‘We all had a feeling.’ Lafayette finally overcomes rival with state at stake.
A third wasn’t the charm for Lafayette’s softball team against Lexington Catholic. Good thing they played a fourth.
After going 0-3 against the Knights in this season’s prior meetings, the Generals won when it mattered most, taking down their rivals, 2-0, in the 11th Region Tournament championship game Tuesday night at Madison Southern High School. They qualified for their fifth state tournament, and first since 2011. That year was the last time a Lexington team made it to state.
Lafayette pitcher Trinity Bridges took tournament MVP honors after giving up just one run in three games — to the host Eagles in round one — and striking out 43 batters. Bridges, a sophomore, fanned 14 in the finals, and gave up just two hits to the Knights.
“We all had a feeling,” Bridges said.
While they entered without a win over LexCath, the Generals were by no means considered an inferior bunch. The combined margin of those decisions was 6-2, including a 2-1 outcome in the 43rd District championship game played last Wednesday. Over-zealousness on the base paths might have cost Lafayette a win in that game, and the memory of that perhaps quelled some potential runs early in Tuesday’s contest.
Natalie Henry delivered the game’s first run after a strike between first and second that ricocheted off the glove of Sara Prisinzano in the third inning, making it easy for Olivia Planck to score from third. Planck also scored the Generals’ other run, in the bottom of the fifth after a two-out single by Rylie Grantz lined into left field.
Henry to end the top of the fifth made a falling grab in shallow right that, if dropped, might have scored a LexCath run. After a moment of hesitation she popped up, showed the yellow ball in her glove, and trotted back to a celebratory mob in her dugout.
“We wanted to see ‘em in the regional championship,” Henry said. “We were like, ‘They’re gonna be ours.’ They beat us three times, we know, but ‘we got this.’ We all had hope and faith.”
Catholic brought the tying run to the plate with two outs in the seventh, but pinch-hitter Caitlyn Kelley struck out swinging. The freshman had not faced Bridges this season.
“When you play a good team like that enough times, something’s bound to happen, right?” LexCath Coach Emery Emmert said. “Statistically speaking, if you flip a coin enough times, it’s gonna eventually land on heads.”
Bridges’ change-up got the better of multiple LexCath hitters; at least five batters were called out looking after she sent it to the plate, including all three top-of-the-order hitters in the third. The Knights’ biggest threat was in the first frame; Ella Emmert led off the game with a walk before her sister, Ava, got hit by a pitch with two outs.
Bridges closed that inning with a strikeout, her third of the inning. Any jitters quickly subsided; Lafayette from the end of the second into the fifth retired nine straight LexCath batters. One Knight reached in each of the final three innings but the threats proved minimal.
“Our pitching was just on today, kept ‘em off balance, and the defense came through,” Dan Grantz said. “Timely hitting, that’s all we needed all season in those other games. We couldn’t put it together but finally came through when it mattered.”
Lafayette will play the winner of the 13th Region championship in the semi-state round Friday at UK’s John Cropp Stadium. That will be either North Laurel, a 9-0 winner over Corbin on Tuesday, or South Laurel, which overcame Knox Central, 1-0, later in the evening. The Laurel County showdown was set for Wednesday night at University of the Cumberlands.
2021 KHSAA State Softball Tournament
At UK’s John Cropp Stadium
This week’s semi-state schedule (round of 16):
Friday
11 a.m.: Lewis Co. (21-8) vs. 14th Region champion
2 p.m.: Johnson Central (33-6) vs. Boyd Co. (27-6)
5 p.m.: Lafayette (30-8) vs. 13th Region champion
8 p.m.: Pendleton Co. (24-11) vs. Boone Co. (24-10)
Saturday
11 a.m.: Ballard (31-3) vs. Daviess Co. (31-6)
2 p.m.: Butler (30-4) vs. McCracken Co. (30-6)
5 p.m.: Warren East (26-13-1) vs. Henderson Co. (27-10)
8 p.m.: Green Co. (30-11) vs. Henry Co. (21-4)
Highlights
This story was originally published June 9, 2021 at 12:23 AM.
