High school softball: Lafayette, LexCath meet again for 43rd title; Bryan Station advances
Local Lexington high schools took to the softball diamonds Tuesday night looking to secure spots in not only district tournament title games, but also in next week’s 11th Region Tournament.
Lafayette, Lexington Catholic and Bryan Station all won Tuesday night to advance to their respective district tournament championship games, and along with that they each claimed a spot in the region tournament.
Here’s how they did that.
Lafayette to defend region title
In the first run-rule victory of Tuesday night’s 43rd District Tournament semifinals at Lexington Catholic High School, defending 11th Region champion and No. 8 ranked Lafayette eventually pulled away from Tates Creek in a 13-1 win in six innings.
Junior Leah Holland hit a pair of home runs to right field for Lafayette, including a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning that enacted the run rule.
Senior Sophie Shelton pitched all six innings for Tates Creek, which finishes the season with a 16-14 record.
The Commodores managed just two hits off Lafayette junior pitcher Trinity Bridges, who also pitched all six innings.
The result gave Bridges her 10th win of the season.
A vocal Lafayette dugout had plenty of reasons to cheer beyond the exploits of Bridges and Holland as well.
Seven different Lafayette players recorded a hit, included two-hit performances by Holland, sophomore Jenna Wells and junior Aniyah White.
Lexington Catholic to defend district title
Freshman Abby Hammond continues to be one of the revelations of the local softball scene.
Hammond tossed a perfect game as No. 10 Lexington Catholic beat Paul Laurence Dunbar, 10-0, in six innings.
Hammond faced the minimum number of batters through six innings — 18 — and struck out 15 of them.
Hammond is now 23-4 in the circle this season. She had a 0.67 earned-run average prior to Tuesday’s win over Dunbar, whose season ends with a record of 5-19.
By reaching the 43rd District Tournament championship game, both Lafayette and LexCath have secured their spots in the 11th Region Tournament.
The 43rd District championship game between Lafayette (24-9), the two seed, and LexCath (24-5), the one seed, was scheduled for Wednesday night at Lexington Catholic.
LexCath previously beat Lafayette twice this season.
Last year, Lexington Catholic beat Lafayette in the 43rd District title game, but lost to Lafayette in the 11th Region finals.
Bryan Station advances in 42nd
Over in the 42nd District, Bryan Station beat Frederick Douglass, 10-4, at Scott County High School as the Defenders reached their first district tournament championship game since 2017.
This also meant Bryan Station (18-14) clinched a spot in next week’s 11th Region Tournament, also for the first time since 2017.
“They did everything. They work hard, they practice. We had a plan and we executed,” said Bryan Station head coach Hector Urbaneja.
Bryan Station was sparked by a two-run double from junior Allyson Decker and a pair of home runs by sophomore Kynedi Birdsong, who accounted for four RBI in the Defenders’ win.
Urbaneja described one of Birdsong’s blasts as one of the longest home runs he’s seen in high school softball.
Frederick Douglass — which got three hits from senior Alyssa Wade, and solo home runs from Wade and senior Jules Johnson — finishes its season 17-17.
Bryan Station was to play host school Scott County in Wednesday night’s 42nd District Tournament title game.
Both Bryan Station and Scott County have secured spots in the 11th Region Tournament by reaching the district title game.
This story was originally published May 25, 2022 at 7:47 AM.
