Jim Mashek

LADY SPARTANS TAKE AIM AT HENDERSON COUNTY IN QUARTERFINALS ON FRIDAY

LEXINGTON — The South Warren High School softball team came to the KHSAA state tournament on Saturday with a singular focus.

Execute. Get in front. Stay there. Win.

That’s exactly what the Lady Spartans did in first-round play against the Highlands Bluebirds, leaving nothing to chance while punching out an 8-0 victory late Saturday night in their first state tournament game in five years.

Middle schoolers Courtney Norwood and Layla Ogden combined on a three-hitter, striking out seven batters without a single walk, as South Warren looked the part of the Commonwealth’s No. 1-ranked team under the intense lights of UK’s John Cropp Stadium.

“I thought we looked good out there tonight,” South Warren coach Kelly Reynolds said from her team’s dugout when it was over. “When you get in some innings, in this kind of environment, it helps settle your nerves. Courtney and Layla were very sharp.

“I thought the girls did a good job.”

Norwood, who just completed the seventh grade, is 13 years old, and will turn 14 on Friday, when the Lady Spartans tee it up with an offensive-minded Henderson County squad in quarterfinal play. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. CDT, also at the University of Kentucky.

Odgen, a 14-year-old on her way to ninth grade, finished the game in the circle and went 3-for-4 offensively, including an RBI double in the top of the seventh.

Norwood allowed just two hits over five innings, with no Highlands base runner getting past second base. Ogden was equally efficient, striking out three batters in her two innings in the circle while surrendering just one hit, Kennedy Baioni’s line-drive double to right-center field.

Neither pitcher gave up a walk, also, but it took a splendid defensive play by South Warren senior Caroline Pitcock to preserve the shutout on the game’s final play.

Highlands pinch hitter Michelle Barth hit a shot up the middle, and Baioni was approaching third base as the ball bounced off Ogden’s leg and into the left side of the infield dirt.

Pitcock fielded the ball cleanly and fired a strike to South first baseman Katie Walker, and the Lady Spartans had completed the task at hand, winning by shutout for the 14th time this season. South Warren (37-2) has won 29 straight games, and Ogden was appreciative of Pitcock’s effort to preserve the shutout.

“She hit the ball hard, and my facemask came flying off,” Ogden said. “I couldn’t see … Caroline came in and made the play. I just wanted to finish it.”

Norwood said her pre-game work with South catcher Carrie Enlow, in the bullpen gave her confidence against the Bluebirds.

“I kind of thought we had it, right out of the gate,” Norwood said.

Enlow, one of four South seniors — center fielder Elly Bennett, pitcher/shortstop Selynna Metcalfe and Pitcock are the others — had a big night with the bat and behind the plate.

“I tell Courtney and Layla, ‘Don’t focus on anything but me,’ when they’re in the circle,” Enlow said. “They came in and did a great job. They were ready.”

So, too, was Enlow, who went 3-for-4 at the plate, sending Bennett home on a double to left-center field in the top of the seventh.

But on a night belonging to the Lady Spartans’ younger players, eighth grader McLaine Hudson got in on the fun, too.

Hudson, South’s leadoff batter, was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored. She got South Warren on the scoreboard in the game’s opening moments, scoring from third base on a wild pitch from Highlands’ Kennedy Baioni.

The Lady Spartans added two runs in the top of the second, with Avery Skaggs and Jenna Lindsey producing run-scoring ground balls after Enlow singled before taking third on Layla Ogden’s double to center field.

It was 3-0 and South Warren was on its way to victory.

“Avery and Jenna (Lindsey) did a great job for us with some key bunts, late in the game,” South Warren center fielder Elly Bennett said. “Avery had a bunt for a sacrifice, in the sixth, (scoring pinch runner Hope White), and Jenna got a run home with the bunt for a hit to the right side.”

Courtney Norwood was the winning pitcher, improving to 11-1, while Baioni took the loss, finishing the season at 12-9.

“I’ve got all the confidence in the world in (Norwood and Ogden),” Bennett said. “They did a phenomenal job.”

Now the Lady Spartans will enjoy a day off before turning their attention to Henderson County, which crushed Oldham County 13-0 in its first-round game on Saturday night. South Warren defeated Henderson County 8-1 on May 13, in the Best of the West Tournament at Buchanon Park in Bowling Green.

Henderson County (33-2) is a proficient offensive squad, with a .387 team batting average and 44 home runs. Sophomore outfielder Taylor Troutman is batting .450 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI, and Henderson County has two strong pitchers in Kelsie Hill (16-2, 2.09 ERA) and Anna Kemp (16-0, 1.33 ERA).

South Warren hasn’t lost since April 12, when crosstown rival Greenwood defeated the visiting Lady Spartans 4-0. Since then, South has won 29 consecutive games.

“We don’t talk about that a lot,” South coach Kelly Reynolds said with a smile. “We’re always trying to focus on the next game in front of us.”