Jim Mashek

SPARTANS IMPROVE TO 44-0 ON THE SEASON; SOUTH WILL PLAY FOR SCHOOL’s FIRST STATE CHAMPIONSHIP ON SATURDAY NIGHT

LEXINGTON — This time, the suspense was minimal.

Borderline, non-existent.

After surviving a gritty eight-inning KHSAA state tournament quarterfinal game last week against Madison Central, South Warren High School’s No.1-ranked fastpitch softball team wielded its bats like nobody’s business in the opening semifinal against Highlands High School on Friday afternoon at UK’s John Cropp Stadium.

All-state shortstop McLaine Hudson crushed the game’s first pitch from Highlands right-hander Kaitlyn Dixon for a solo home run to straightaway center field, and the Spartans unleashed a prolific 10-hit attack to crush the Bluebirds, 10-0, in a game that came to a halt after five innings per the KHSAA’s “mercy rule.”

South Warren’s Layla Ogden, who delivered the walk-off home run in the 4-3 victory last week against Madison Central, followed suit with one out in the first inning. Ogden deposited a pitch from Dixon over the left-field fence, another solo shot that tucked just inside the left-field foul pole.

From there, it was South Warren right-hander Courtney Norwood’s turn, and the junior UK commit allowed just two hits over four innings before yielding to Ogden, a first baseman/pitcher headed for WKU, to complete the task at hand in the bottom of the fifth inning.

“The first pitch, the very first pitch, I said to Mac (South’s McLaine Hudson), ‘I see some big things coming today, kid,'” South Warren coach Kelly Reynolds said. “Sometimes, when you score first, it just gives you a lot of of momentum … It’s been a phenomenal year.”

South Warren remained unbeaten in 44 games, while Highlands finished its season at 35-7 overall.

South Warren will face either Bullitt East or George Rogers Clark in Saturday night’s KHSAA state championship game. A victory would bring the Spartans the first state championship in school history.

“It’s so surreal. I just wanted it so bad for our (six) seniors,” Norwood said. “I’ve been playing with most of these girls since middle school, and some of them since we were 4 or 5 years old.”

Hudson, the Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year, unloaded her second home run of the game in the top of the third inning.

Hudson drilled Kaitlyn Dixon’s 1-2 pitch over the center-field fence for her state-leading 28th home run of the season.

“We like to set the tone early,” Hudson said. “Now we get to play for a state championship … we just got the bats going today.”

The Spartans also shined in the field, while Highlands was haunted by three errors, all in the fourth inning.

Hudson finished 3-for-4 with four runs scored, while teammates Hadley Borders, a senior center fielder headed for the University of Missouri, also finished with three hits and three runs scored.

Norwood remained unbeaten in 25 decisions.

I’ll have complete coverage tomorrow morning at jimmashek.com … Thanks for reading.