UK commit McLaine Hudson just the tip of No. 1 South Warren softball’s stellar roster
Led by Kentucky commit McLaine Hudson and a bevy of other top-flight college prospects, No. 1 South Warren appears loaded for a run at its third 4th Region title in four years and, perhaps, the school’s first softball state championship.
But even though the Spartans (19-2) out of Bowling Green breezed through Georgetown on Saturday with mercy-rule wins at both No. 5 Scott County and Great Crossing, they know being the state’s top-ranked team means little when it’s win-or-go-home time.
“You’ve got to look at it game by game,” Hudson said. “It starts with district, and then region, and then state. Every year is different. The past is behind. We’ve just got to keep pushing.”
Hudson, a 5-foot-5 two-sport standout who led the basketball Spartans in scoring in rebounding last season, committed to UK softball in October and has been the team’s leading hitter each of the last three years.
Hudson broke the state record for hits in a season with 93 a year ago, passing the 90-hit mark set by Madisonville’s Kaylee Tow in 2017. Tow went on to play for Alabama. Hudson is also on pace to shatter Tow’s career hits mark of 365. As of Saturday, Hudson has 334 hits with more than a full season to play.
South Warren’s wrecking crew lineup
Hudson is just the tip of the spear for the Spartans. She has plenty of high-caliber help, including a junior class that has four other NCAA Division I commits in its ranks.
▪ Western Kentucky commit Layla Ogden leads the state in home runs with 15, hits .557 and splits time in the circle where she has a 7-1 record with a 1.76 ERA. She hit a home run in Saturday’s 14-1 victory over Scott County and pitched a three-hit shutout in the 10-0 win over Great Crossing.
▪ Ohio State commit Parker Willoughby is hitting .443 and went 5-for-7 in Saturday’s games with four RBIs and three runs scored.
▪ Missouri commit Hadley Borders is batting .380 this season and could still get hotter at the plate considering she averaged .504 as a sophomore with 57 runs scored.
▪ Florida Atlantic commit Hayden Holloway is hitting .355 with nine home runs. Her two-run home run in the top of the first inning against Scott County helped set the tone for the day.
South Warren’s talent doesn’t end there.
▪ Another junior, Kinleigh Russell, is batting .485 with 33 RBIs and 34 runs scored.
▪ Sophomore pitcher Courtney Norwood has notched an 11-1 record with a 1.34 ERA. Norwood has made a number of nationwide class of 2027 watch lists.
▪ The team’s lone senior, Jenna Lindsey, is hitting .433 and has committed to Lindsey Wilson to play both basketball and flag football.
“There’s a lot of talent here, but you’ve got to be able to keep them straight and stuff like that,” said South Warren assistant coach Craig Sparks, who led the team on its Georgetown trip while head coach Kelly Reynolds attended her daughter’s senior festivities for Campbellsville University’s final home stand of the season. “Our region is very tough. (No. 3) Greenwood is down there and (No. 19) Allen County, Barren County and some others. It’s very hard even in our district. Greenwood is in our district.
“We’re not even worried about state right now, because you’ve got to get there first.”
Hudson has been one of the team’s top players since seventh grade. While Holloway joined the Spartans last season out of McCracken County and Willoughby transferred this year from Butler County, many of the others have been growing with the team since middle school.
“It’s awesome when you get to sit and practice and watch the hard work translate to the field,” Hudson said. “Everyone is an extremely hard worker. And to see that all their hard work is paying off is an amazing feeling as a teammate.”
Having so many players who’ve already made their college commitments has relieved some of the pressure Hudson and her fellow Spartans have felt over the years, she said.
“I think sometimes when you’re in the process of getting recruited, your game plays more to the coaches watching in the stands than for yourself,” Hudson said. “It was a big adjustment, just for me and some of my other teammates, just playing for the love of the game and not for trying to get a scholarship.”
Setbacks offset by impressive wins
The Spartans rank as one of the state’s top offenses with 11.47 runs per game and a team batting average of .431. Their 43 team home runs are 14 more than second-place East Jessamine in that category. Meanwhile, the team ranks fifth in earned run average at 1.65.
South Warren’s only two losses have come to coaches poll No. 2 Assumption, a 14-13 eight-inning shootout in Louisville on March 27, and to 14th District-rival Greenwood, a 6-3 spring break trip loss shortened to three innings by tournament rules in Madison, Alabama, on April 5.
In their next spring break game in Florida, Hudson hit a pair of solo home runs to help the Spartans knock off that state’s defending Class 6A state champions, Pace High School, 2-0. At the time, Pace was ranked No. 13 in the nation by MaxPreps.com.
Two weeks later, South Warren avenged one of those losses with a 17-11 win at Greenwood to take the first game of their district regular-season series.
South Warren has reached the 4th Region finals each season since 2015, earning the crown and corresponding trip to the state tournament four times during that run, including two of the last three. In 2022 and 2024 the Spartans, featuring Hudson, Ogden and a few more on this season’s roster, reached the state semifinals where they lost to the eventual state champion each time.
Those state tournament reality checks in past years and the threat of Greenwood and others in their own region keep the Spartans grounded, players said.
“I feel like we don’t really have a lot of pressure on us because we haven’t really done anything. I mean, we haven’t won a state championship,” Ogden said. “We have to work for it. It’s something that we have our mind on every single time we play.”
This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
