{"id":21723,"date":"2026-06-06T22:07:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T22:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/?p=21723"},"modified":"2026-06-07T03:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T03:17:41","slug":"quick-hitter-story-south-warrens-layla-ogden-walks-it-off-with-two-run-home-run-to-subdue-madison-central-4-3-in-eight-innings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/?p=21723","title":{"rendered":"QUICK HITTER STORY\/South Warren’s Layla Ogden walks it off with a two-run home run to subdue Madison Central, 4-3, in eight innings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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SOUTH WARREN PLAYERS AWAIT
SENIOR LAYLA OGDEN AFTER HER
TWO-RUN, WALKOFF HOME RUN IN
THE BOTTOM OF THE EIGHTH.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH ADVANCES TO NEXT FRIDAY’s FIRST SEMIFINAL AGAINST HIGHLANDS HIGH SCHOOL; SPARTANS REMAIN UNBEATEN IN 43 GAMES<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LEXINGTON — South Warren High School’s No.1-ranked fastpitch softball team stared defeat in the face, and the Spartans lived to tell about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior first baseman\/pitcher Layla Ogden belted a two-run home run, a shot that sailed well over the left-field fence at UK’s John Cropp Stadium, and the Spartans stunned a gritty Madison Central squad, 4-3, on a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon in the KHSAA state tournament quarterfinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The No.1-ranked Spartans remained unbeaten in 43 games, and they did so in dramatic fashion. Madison Central had grabbed a 3-2 lead, in the top of the eighth inning, on Luciana Robinson’s solo home run to left-center field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South right-hander Courtney Norwood struck out the next batter she faced, the Lady Indians’ Miley Cooke, and the Spartans returned to their dugout trailing by one run with the game, and their season, on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senior third baseman Parker Willoughby, who will play at Ohio State University next season, had a seven- or eight-pitch at bat against Madison Central pitcher Kate Drury before lining the ball into center field for a leadoff single in the eighth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brought Layla Ogden to the plate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ogden connected on a 2-2 pitch and sent it sailing over the fence in left-center field, bringing the Spartans out to home plate to greet her in a wild celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Madison Central finished its season 27-9 on the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN’s LAYLA OGDEN
WATCHES THE FLIGHT OF HER
GAME-WINNING HOME RUN<\/strong> …<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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… OGDEN’s DRAMATIC TWO-RUN BLAST
SENDS THE SPARTANS TO NEXT WEEK’s
SEMIFINALS AGAINST HIGHLANDS.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN COACH KELLY REYNOLDS
WATCHES AS THE SPARTANS’ KALIE KUZMA
SLIDES INTO THIRD BASE IN THE FIFTH.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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“I knew (Drury) was going to come in inside, and she did, with a screwball,” Ogden said. “I just tried not to make the moment ‘too big’ …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We really didn’t doubt ourselves, at all, even when we were down a run. I’d put this team up against any other team in the state, or even the nation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Warren had played only a handful of close games before Saturday afternoon’s dramatic state quarterfinal, and the Spartans trailed Madison Central twice before Ogden’s home run brought the game to an immediate halt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Warren coach Kelly Reynolds met with her squad for about 10 minutes in the interview area on Cropp Stadium’s lower concourse, before the Spartans’ players could celebrate the triumph with their family and friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It seemed like that game took forever,” Reynolds said. “What a win, for our girls. We needed that, a tough game, so much. (Madison Central) played a great game; they’re really good. But it matters, at the end, who scores the most runs …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Between innings, we talked about adversity, and we knew we just had to fight through it. Layla’s a senior, and she’s a great leader. When she hit that ball, I was like ‘keep going, keep going, go baby …'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Ogden’s 13th home run of the season. She has signed with her hometown school, Western Kentucky University, to continue her softball career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McLaine Hudson, South’s all-state shortstop, had an exceptional game defensively and helped the Spartans manufacture a run to help her team grab a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Hudson’s fly ball to right allowed South Warren eighth grader Kalie Kuzma to score on Hadley Borders’ RBI single for the Spartans’ first run of the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN’s HADLEY BORDERS (No. 4)
ON PARKER WILLOUGHBY’s BUNT IN THE FIFTH.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH’s HADLEY BORDERS
IS CONGRATULATED AFTER
SCORING IN THE FIFTH.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH’s LAYLA OGDEN DID SOME PITCHING, TOO …<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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… BEFORE COURTNEY NORWOOD RETURNED
TO THE CIRCLE TO EARN THE VICTORY.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Starting pitcher Courtney Norwood was the Spartans’ winning pitcher, splitting the duties in the circle with teammate Layla Ogden. Norwood returned to pitching with one out in the top of the seventh, and she did allow Luciana Robinson’s impressive home run with two outs in the top of the eighth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borders moved into third base on a two-base error in the Madison Central outfield — the Lady Indians had three errors for the game — before scoring on Parker Willoughby’s perfectly executed squeeze bunt, tying the game at 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Warren is making its third consecutive appearance in the KHSAA state tournament, but the Spartans are still looking for the first state championship in school history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll have complete coverage tomorrow morning at jimmashek.com … Thanks for reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LOOKS LIKE I’LL BE STAYING
ON THE ROAD TONIGHT, PIPER …
SEE YOU MANANA. PROMISE.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH ADVANCES TO NEXT FRIDAY’s FIRST SEMIFINAL AGAINST HIGHLANDS HIGH SCHOOL; SPARTANS REMAIN UNBEATEN IN 43 GAMES LEXINGTON — South […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-potpourri"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21723"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21745,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21723\/revisions\/21745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}