‘It just snowballs.’ Big inning helps Scott County extend district title win streak.
Scott County has never lost a 42nd District softball tournament.
But this is a different era — one in which Scott County (15-17) entered the postseason with an unheard of losing record.
It’s the first season since splitting the county’s talent pool with sister school Great Crossing. Oh, and three-time state title-winning coach Jeff Portwood now wears Warhawk Green and Navy instead of Cardinal Red and Blue.
“It was a lot of pressure to come out and perform tonight,” said Scott County senior Kaylie Wise. “We wanted to keep it going.”
Wise and her teammates did just that Tuesday, breaking open their district championship game against host Frederick Douglass with a six-run rally all with two outs in the fifth inning and going on to defeat the Broncos 12-5.
“Sometimes it just gets the adrenaline going on two outs, and it’s nice,” said Wise, the tournament’s MVP, who followed up singles by Lexi Roby and Emma Price with a double that brought them both home. “You have to thank the dugout on that a lot. They keep the energy up. Having that energy behind you — it just snowballs.”
Scott County kept going. Delaney Vaughn doubled on the next pitch to bring in Wise. Ada Little reached on an error that also let Vaughn score. Two pitches later, Kenley Ison doubled. Then Ellie Price knocked in Little’s pinch runner and Ison to cap the rally for an 8-2 lead.
Scott County pitcher Ada Little, an eighth-grader, shook off a first-inning inside-the-park home run by Douglass’s Alyssa Wade that put the Broncos up 2-0. Wade’s towering fly ball hit the left-field fence and gave her enough time to round all the bases behind Kasia Parks who also scored.
Though Little allowed three more runs on two homers in the sixth, she remained composed and struck out the final batters in the sixth and seventh innings. She had 10 strikeouts in the game.
Scott County lost to the Broncos (17-15) earlier in the season, but the Cardinals didn’t get discouraged by the first-inning deficit.
“We were just trying to not let it get to us. We still had plenty of time,” Wise said. “It was really just staying calm and focusing on our mechanics.”
Wise had an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning to start a four-run rally that set the final score.
“We’re growing,” said Scott County Coach Billy James, who took over the program last year when Portwood left for the new school. “We struggled early and we’ve lost a lot of close games — just because we haven’t been able to hit very well. We’re starting to hit at the right time. We hit well yesterday. We hit the ball well today. And they’re young, so it’s nice to see them start coming together.”
Despite having only three seniors and little carryover experience from past years due to the lost COVID-19 season, James scheduled his team as if it were one of the celebrated overdogs of old.
“Out of the 32 teams we’ve played, there’ve been 17 ranked teams,” James said. “I scheduled like a normal Scott County team. We wanted to give them the best competition so that, hopefully, it pays off in the playoffs. It’s paid off today.”
▪ All-tournament team: Henry Clay — Leah Madden, Brooke Wilkins; Bryan Station — Maya Meads, Sydney Webster; Frederick Douglass — Kayleigh Bell, Rachael Harris, Alyssa Wade; Scott County — Ada Little, Lexi Roby, Delaney Vaughn, Emma Price and Kaylie Wise (MVP).
43rd District semifinals
Lafayette 7, Tates Creek 0: Trinity Bridges threw a two-hit shutout for the Generals and Natalie Henry knocked in three runs on two hits with a homer and a pair of runs scored as Lafayette (27-7) advanced to the district finals scheduled for Wednesday night.
Bridges struck out 14, including three in the second inning after allowing runners on via a hit and a hit batsman. Leah Holland knocked in the game’s first run on a single in the first and homered in the sixth. Madison Johnson also homered for the Generals, who are ranked fifth in the most recent Kentucky Softball Coaches Association poll.
Lexington Catholic 6, Paul Laurence Dunbar 0: Eighth-grader Abby Hammond pitched a no-hitter against the Bulldogs while Hannah Carlisle homered and hit an RBI double for the Knights (25-3). Leadoff batter Ella Emmert went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Hammond struck out five and walked one.
LexCath ranks in a tie for seventh in the coach’s poll despite having beaten No. 5 Lafayette twice in the regular season. The Knights and Generals were to battle for the 43rd District title in a game scheduled for Wednesday, weather permitting.
Highlights
