Scott County wins nail-biter in state softball return; favorite knocked out

By Josh Moore Special to the Herald-Leader

Updated June 6, 2025 9:00 AM

Scott County ace Ada Little had a no-hitter going through four innings but her team trailed 2-1. Such is life sometimes in the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Softball State Tournament.

Little in the top of the fifth finally gave up her first of three hits but the No. 5 Cardinals also found home plate down the stretch. They squeezed out a 3-2 win over No. 14 Bullitt East in the first round late Thursday night, setting up a quarterfinal showdown with Rowan County on Saturday morning at UK’s John Cropp Stadium.

“I looked at the scoreboard at one point and saw that I had no hits and was like, ‘All right, whatever, we can’t go back and change those two runs,” said Little, who gave up a walk that led to an earned run in the top of the fourth. The other Charger who scored that inning reached on a throwing error and later scored on a groundout. “ … I’ll give up however many hits if it means us winning.”

Scott County’s Ada Little allowed two runs on three hits and struck out six in pitching a complete game. Brian Simms bsimms@herald-leader.com

Scott County’s Makiah Jackson exults after the Cardinals scored a run during their 3-2 win over Bullitt East in the opening round of the Softball State Tournament in Lexington on Thursday night. Brian Simms bsimms@herald-leader.com

Makiah Jackson singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth and quickly stole second. She scored on a single by Katelyn Stevens to tie the game. Ella Millard entered as a pinch-runner for Stevens and eventually advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Gracie Strong brought her in as the go-ahead run on sac fly to shallow left. Bullitt East’s Emma Thompson was in good position to make a strong throw, but Millard just beat it.

Scott County (26-6) head coach James Waggoner “knew it was gonna be close” when he sent her, but felt like he had to go for it.

“The moment my foot hit the bag I knew it was good,” Millard said.

Stevens drove in Scott County’s only other run in the bottom of the fourth, cutting in half what had been a 2-0 deficit

“Katie was a rock star tonight,” Waggoner said. “She was a rock star at the plate. It was huge for her. She’s been up and down here lately, so for her to have a big game here in the first round of the state tournament was quite the confidence-booster for her and for the rest of us.”

Little threw a complete game, striking out six batters along the way. Ryleigh Watrous started for Bullitt East (24-6) before giving the ball to Mackenzie Mingus; they combined for seven hits allowed and five strikeouts.

Scott County, the winner of three state titles, hasn’t been to the state tournament since it won its last trophy in 2018. These Cardinals felt confident that their first-round matchup would reveal a lot about whether they have the moxie to add to their program’s storied history.

“The winner of this game, whether it was us or them, they were gonna make a good run because of this game,” Little said. “Nobody was gonna blow anyone out, either of us. Obviously we would’ve loved to have scored more runs but at the end of the day the winner of this game was gonna come out on top, especially when it comes to the character of a team.”

Scott County’s Katelyn Stevens went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs during the Cardinals’ win Thursday night. “Katie was a rock star tonight,” coach James Waggoner said. Brian Simms bsimms@herald-leader.com

Daviess County 3, South Warren 1: A two-RBI double by Kamryn Timmons erased a brief South Warren lead and the No. 6 Panthers (27-3) added insurance in the next frame en route to an upset of the unanimous No. 1 team entering this year’s state tournament.

Trailing 1-0 after the Spartans (34-4) got the first run across in the top, Callie Smith led off Daviess County’s turn in the fifth with a double. Biley Henry reached on a one-out bunt and got to second on a wild pitch. South Warren ace Courtney Norwood got her second strikeout of the frame before Timmons tagged her with the decisive double.

In the bottom of the sixth, Annie Newman hit a one-out double to reach before Molly Hancock singled a couple pitches later. Newman scored on a throwing error.

South Warren got out of that inning without further damage but couldn’t capitalize on early fortune in the seventh. Keegan Pruitt was hit by a pitch and McClaine Hudson singled to give the Spartans two runners, but Pruitt was caught at third on a dazzler from Kylie Clark. The sophomore corralled Hudson’s long shot into left field near the wall, gathered and delivered a long toss for the penultimate out. A flyout finished the upset.

Sophia Cain threw six innings for Daviess County, giving up four hits and three walks, before Timmons closed the seventh. Norwood allowed just three hits, struck out seven and walked no one in five innings for South Warren, who defeated the Panthers 8-4 in their regular-season meeting on March 22.

Henderson County 4, North Laurel 1: The defending state champion Colonels (32-6) got a two-out, two-run double from Anna Kemp followed by an RBI triple by Braylin Risley in the first inning to provide all the runs they needed to take down last year’s runner-up Jaguars (29-7).

A walk to Maggie Grogan and an error on Mackenzie Burczyk’s ball in play got the runners on for Kemp as she worked the count full and then sent her double to left field.

Henderson County added a run in the sixth inning when Jersey Gardner turned her walk into a run after a steal and a fielder’s choice on Saniya Shields’ grounder.

Burczyk got the win for 5⅔ innings of work behind Kemp. An error let North Laurel score its only run in the first inning as Emma Carl scored after a one-out single and steal.

The Colonels won 8-7 at Daviess County, their quarterfinals foe, on April 29.

Rowan County 3, Boyle County 2: Baleigh Caskey put the Vikings in front for good on a single in the bottom of the sixth and sent them to the quarterfinals for the second time in the last three seasons.

Rowan County (29-5) was scoreless through four innings and trailed 1-0 before Malana Hamm’s two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth. The Rebels, who won three straight 12th Region Tournament games to make the field after not stringing together that many wins the entire regular season, evened things right afterward on an RBI double from Ashlen Young.

But the magic ran out for Boyle (12-19) in the seventh. Kassi Perkins, who struck out eight and went the distance for Rowan, finished the job on just five pitches.