{"id":21883,"date":"2026-06-14T05:15:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T05:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/?p=21883"},"modified":"2026-06-14T05:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T05:16:48","slug":"quick-hitter-story-south-warren-softball-completes-an-unbeaten-run-to-the-khsaa-state-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/?p=21883","title":{"rendered":"QUICK HITTER STORY\/South Warren softball completes an unbeaten run to the KHSAA state championship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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SOUTH’s COURTNEY NORWOOD
ALLOWED JUST TWO HITS IN
SEVEN INNINGS IN THE CIRCLE.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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TOURNAMENT MVP COURTNEY NORWOOD GUIDES SPARTANS PAST BULLITT EAST, 8-0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LEXINGTON —<\/strong> South Warren High School’s No.1-ranked fastpitch softball team has done it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No longer just a flashy contender, the Spartans were able to climb one last mountain to win the school’s first state championship, pulling away in the late innings to claim a workmanlike 8-0 victory over Bullitt East High School before an overflow crowd at UK’s John Cropp Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Junior right-hander Courtney Norwood, the tournament MVP, fired a two-hitter to tame the potent Bullitt East lineup, and the Spartans capitalized on a critical error to extend their lead to 5-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, it almost seemed like a coronation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Warren made a case for the greatest team in KHSAA softball history, winning all 45 games to claim the first state championship in school history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN’s McLAINE HUDSON
ROBS THE CHARGERS’ ALIVA COOPER
OF A LEADOFF HIT IN THE FIRST.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN’s PLAYERS HOIST
THE CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY AFTER
THEIR 8-0 VICTORY OVER BULLITT EAST.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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And the Spartans won nine of their last 10 games by shutout, with the lone exception the breakthrough they’ve been looking for in state tournament play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Layla Ogden delivered a two-run, walkoff home run to send South Warren to Friday’s semifinals, lifting the Spartans to a dramatic 4-3 victory over Madison Central on June 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norwood wouldn’t give up another run the rest of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The moment finally happened,” Norwood said. “I knew they could hit the ball, I knew they would put it in play … I just had to rely on my defense, and they came through.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Warren was making its third consecutive appearance in the KHSAA state tournament. But the Spartans stumbled in semifinal play, dropping a 2-0 decision to Henderson County in 2024. Then, last season, they stumbled in first-round play, falling to a talented Daviess County squad, 3-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Norwood retired the first nine Bullitt East batters she faced, and the Spartans struck for two runs in the bottom of the third.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN COMPLETED
THE FIRST 45-0 SEASON IN KHSAA HISTORY.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN’s HADLEY BORDERS (No. 4)
AND HER TEAMMATES STRUCK FOR THREE RUNS
ON A CRITICAL BULLITT EAST ERROR IN THE FOURTH.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Senior catcher Kinleigh Russell, a tough, agile defender headed for Oklahoma State University, delivered a soft line drive to the opposite field, a ball that fell for a two-run single in shallow left-center field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That might have been the turning point, in the estimation of ninth-year South Warren head coach Kelly Reynolds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I felt like we might have been a little tense, early,” Reynolds said. “Once we got those two runs, I thought we relaxed a little bit.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reynolds was effusive in her praise for the Spartans’ senior class — all-state shortstop McLaine Hudson, center fielder Hadley Borders, first baseman\/pitcher Layla Ogden, third baseman Parker Willoughby, outfielder Kaylee Wilson and catcher Kinleigh Russell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With these girls, you see the fight, the grit, the determination,” Reynolds said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bullitt East finished the season at 32-5 overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll have complete coverage in the morning at jimmashek.com … (Yes, I caught most of the second half of Game Five in the NBA Finals. Congrats, Knicks).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SOUTH WARREN COACH KELLY REYNOLDS.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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TOURNAMENT MVP COURTNEY NORWOOD GUIDES SPARTANS PAST BULLITT EAST, 8-0 LEXINGTON — South Warren High School’s No.1-ranked fastpitch softball team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1,20,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-otherhssports","category-potpourri","category-thesec","category-wkusports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21883","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=21883"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21892,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21883\/revisions\/21892"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimmashek.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}