Jim Mashek

SOUTH STOPS FRANKLIN-SIMPSON, BUILDS 8-3 LEAD AGAINST McCRACKEN COUNTY BEFORE THE SKIES OPEN

DRAFFENVILLE, Kentucky — South Warren High School softball coach Kelly Reynolds likes to challenge her squad, to get the Spartans ready for the grind of postseason play.

South Warren, a state tournament semifinalist last season, has taken on, and defeated, all of its opponents from the Commonwealth. Reynolds’ squad is sporting a 15-2 record, with the two defeats coming on the road against Florida panhandle opponents during Spring Break.

On Saturday, the Spartans made the 2.5-hour bus ride to Marshall County High School for the Marshall County Slugfest, opening with Franklin-Simpson before taking on tradition-rich McCracken County.

The Lady Mustangs, KHSAA state tournament semifinalists themselves last year, opened Slugfest play against Franklin-Simpson on Friday night and cruised to a 13-0 victory over the Lady Wildcats. They returned on Saturday afternoon to square off with South Warren, which struck first for two runs in the first inning.

McCracken County grabbed a 3-2 lead in the top of the second inning, but it would not last against the hot South Warren bats.

South chased McCracken’s starting pitcher, Anna Kate Hawes, by collecting six hits while scoring five runs in the bottom of the second. The Spartans would extend their lead to 8-3 before heavy thunderstorms traversed the Jackson Purchase area, and the games were called after a delay of about 30 minutes.

So while it won’t go down as an official “win” against the Lady Mustangs, South Warren did make a statement with its prolific offense and another solid start for ninth-grade pitching ace Layla Ogden.

South Warren opened Marshall County Slugfest play on Saturday, defeating Franklin-Simpson 8-2 before taking the field against McCracken.

In the bottom of the second inning, South’s Kaylee Wilson and Avery Skaggs lined back-to-back singles to left field, bringing up the Spartans’ McLaine Hudson.

Hudson got down a bunt, to the right side in front of home plate, and hustled down the first-base line while Wilson scored from third. South’s Katie Walker had a strong at bat against Hawes in the second, and she delivered an RBI single to left-center field to make it 6-3.

Ogden teed off on a pitch from Hawes, and she just missed a home run to center field as the ball bounced off the top of the wall. The Lady Mustangs would finally retire the side, two batters later, but the damage had been done.

South Warren will make its KHSAA 14th District debut on the road Tuesday, when the Spartans will take the short trip to Greenwood High School to tangle with the Lady Gators (8-5, 4-0 against 4th Region competition).

While the KHSAA called the South Warren-McCracken game “cancelled” on its web site on Saturday, by Sunday morning, it had been removed from both teams’ schedules.

To quote one of those we-know-something-you-don’t Servpro TV commercials, “it’s like it never even happened.”

Well, it happened. The Spartans built a big lead on another KHSAA softball heavyweight, when Mother Nature intervened. South Warren’s players took refuge in the bus, for a while, while waiting for officials to make the call on whether the game would continue.

(Marshall County’s baseball team was playing host to a similar tournament at the same time.)

Reynolds has gotten extensive innings out of three South pitchers — freshman Layla Ogden, eighth grader Courtney Norwood and senior Kendall Willingham.

Willingham has yet to surrender an earned run this season, and is 6-0 after the Spartans’ first 17 games. Ogden, a power pitcher, has recorded 45 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings pitched with just seven walks. Norwood is equally efficient, with 37 strikeouts and just TWO walks — that’s right, two walks — in 23 1/3 innings pitched. Ogden sports a 1.34 ERA while Norwood checks in at 2.40.

While the Spartans obviously miss the likes of departed center fielder Elly Bennett, now at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, catcher Carrie Enlow and shortstop/pitcher Selynna Metcalfe, now at Campbellsville College, they still have several offensive catalysts.

Freshman infielder McLaine Hudson is batting a team-high .611 with four home runs and 18 RBI. Hudson also leads the Spartans with 21 stolen bases. Senior corner infielder Katie Walker can hit for average AND power, and Avery Skaggs, Briley Pruitt and Jenna Lindsey make sure the Spartans can hit THROUGHOUT the lineup.

South Warren’s next three games will come against KHSAA 14th District opponents — Greenwood (8-5) on Tuesday, Warren Central (5-8) at home on Thursday and Bowling Green High School (0-8) on April 25.

The Spartans also have games scheduled against traditional powers such as Owensboro Catholic, Lexington Catholic and South Oldham.

Kelly Reynolds’ South squad looks like the team to beat in the KHSAA’s 4th Region. So far, no team from the Commonwealth has been able to do it.

Stay tuned.