‘What a great moment.’ Clutch hits in 7th send Lafayette to 2nd straight region finals.
With no score through six hard-fought innings, Lafayette softball Coach Dan Grantz thought it was time for some fresh eyes at the plate during the Generals’ 11th Region semifinals game against Great Crossing on Tuesday night at Western Hills High School.
Sophomore pinch-hitter Marissa Hurst delivered a two-run double with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to break a stalemate and help the Generals earn a 4-0 victory over the Warhawks to give Lafayette a shot to defend its region title Wednesday night.
No one was more excited for Hurst’s shot to the gap in right-center than Grantz, who hopped up and down around the third-base coach’s box in celebration as the runs came across and Hurst stood at second.
“That girl has been so patient and has been continuing to work, and I just kept telling her to be ready. ‘Be ready. Get dialed in because your time is going to come,’” Grantz said. “She couldn’t have come through in a better situation. … I knew she was going to get a bat on it. I didn’t know where it was going to go, but man, I tell you what that was awesome. What a great moment for her to remember.”
The victory advanced Lafayette (27-9) to Wednesday’s 6 p.m. championship game against Lexington Catholic at Western Hills, a rematch of last year’s region finals and the 2021 and 2022 43rd District finals. The Knights defeated Scott County 6-0 earlier in the evening. Both LexCath’s Abby Hammond and Lafayette’s Trinity Bridges pitched two-hit shutouts.
Bridges struck out 16 Warhawks, including the final Great Crossing batter. She struck out the side twice.
“Her spins are off the charts. When she throws hard, they’re fast and they break and it’s my favorite,” Lafayette catcher Nora Mack said. “My favorite is her curve ball inside and her rise balls … Overall an amazing pitcher: a 100 out of 10.”
After Hurst’s heroics to break the 0-0 tie, Mack piled on by taking the next pitch over the center field fence to score Hurst and put Lafayette up 4-0.
“I just kind of knew (the Great Crossing pitcher) was stressing at that point,” Mack said. “I said I’ve got to hit the first pitch. I have to.”
It was only Mack’s second home run of the season.
“Nora has been the calming force to help all our pitchers all year long and she doesn’t get enough credit,” Grantz said. “I’m glad she had a moment like that offensively because defensively she’s been huge for us.”
Great Crossing (19-14) pitcher Layne Ogle didn’t rack up the punch-outs like her opposite number, but she effectively scattered five hits through 6⅔ innings and got some great plays from her defense, including a double play in the first inning to stifle a threat that started with two on and no outs. Lafayette put runners on base in each of the first four innings. Ogle struck out four and walked two for the 41st District champs.
A pair of walks in the seventh helped set the table for Hurst.
“Marissa’s been struggling with confidence all year and we’ve been telling her ‘you can hit. I know you can hit’ and when she went up there, I was in my head like, ‘She’s going to get a hit right here.’ And then she got one perfectly in the gap.” Bridges said. “I didn’t know we were going to wait that long to hit, but I’m just glad we hit when we did.”
Lexington Catholic blanks Scott County
As they did against Madison Central the night before, the Lexington Catholic Knights scored two runs in the first inning and got a spectacular pitching performance from freshman Abby Hammond to earn a 6-0 victory over Scott County in the 11th Region Tournament semifinals Tuesday.
“We talk about how important it is to get a jump. When you’re the visitor, it’s more important,” LexCath Coach Emery Emmert said. “You’ve got to get out there and put your stake in the ground and say, ‘OK, we’ve got the lead, now come take it from us.’ I think it’s kind of intimidating when you have the pitching talent that we have to have to play from behind.”
In addition to her seven innings of shutout softball with eight strikeouts, Hammond went 5-for-5 at the plate and scored the game’s first run. Her courtesy runner scored the final run after she led off the sixth inning with a double. She deflected credit after the game.
“I have really good coaches and my teammates back me up,” Hammond said. “It’s not just me. My team has to work behind me, too.”
In a 4-0 loss to Scott County (21-12) on May 11, the Knights had just two hits, struck out 12 times and committed four errors. Tuesday’s defense against the 42nd District champions was flawless and the Knights notched 14 hits.
“Today, we went into batting practice and we knew what we were going to face and we worked on it a lot,” Hammond said. “I’m just really happy with how hard our team has worked to get this win.”
Ava Emmert, Maggie Coleman, Kinley Willoughby and Sara Prisinzano each had two hits for LexCath. Emmert led the team with three runs batted in.
Last year, Lexington Catholic (26-6) won the 43rd District title only to lose the 11th Region crown to Lafayette. This year, Lafayette (27-9) took the 43rd title and is looking for a sweep. Emmert believes his team will be ready.
“Our goal was to get back. It’s the revenge tour,” Emmert said. “So, we’re going after it tomorrow. Hopefully, we play like we did tonight.”
Wednesday
11th Region Softball Tournament championship
At Western Hills High School, Frankfort
6 p.m.: Lexington Catholic vs. Lafayette
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 7:41 AM.
