South Warren to face Bullitt East with perfect season, state title on the line
Undefeated No. 1 South Warren will attempt to make history as the first team to ever go 45-0 and win the school’s first Softball State Tournament championship when they take on No. 3 Bullitt East at 7 p.m. Saturday at the University of Kentucky’s John Cropp Stadium.
Only three schools have gone unbeaten to a state title — Greenwood (44-0) in 2013, Male (39-0) in 2019 and Ballard (39-0) in 2022.
South Warren’s obstacle: No. 3 Bullitt East (32-4), which has bullied its way to its first state final in only its third tournament appearance (and second in a row).
Though South Warren leads the state in scoring at 12.72 runs per game, the Chargers put up 11 per game in the regular season and outscored their state tourney foes 34-11, including a 13-3 win in five innings over George Rogers Clark on Friday in front of an announced crowd of 2,436, which had The Cropp grandstand at capacity.
“We’re going to come out, and we’re going to come out ready to go,” said Bullitt East’s Allie Carter, a freshman who hit the game-ending two-run home run against Clark on Friday. “We’re not going to go out there and think we’re going to lose, because that’s not who we are. Our team is just one of a kind. We’re out there to win.”
South Warren, an 11-0 mercy-rule winner over Highlands in Friday’s other semifinal, has a number of players who have been part of the Spartans’ three state tourney trips in the last four years, but this season also marks the program’s first trip to the state championship game.
“We are going to play our game, make adjustments necessary to do what we want to do and then let them try to figure us out,” Bullitt East coach Bruce Pierce said. “That’s all we can do. That’s what we’ve done all season long, so we’re not going to change anything now.”
Here’s how each team reached Saturday’s final.
Bullitt East 13, George Rogers Clark 3 (5 innings)
Allie Carter’s two-run home run to center field in the bottom of the fifth inning completed Bullitt East’s 13-3 mercy-rule victory over George Rogers Clark and sent the Chargers to what could be a shootout Saturday against South Warren.
“Hitting that home run, I knew our team was on top of the world,” Carter said. “This season has been great. Every player has their own special unique thing they contribute to the team.”
The Chargers notched multiple runs in four of the five innings with three in the first and the third, five in the second and Carter’s two-run blast in the fifth. Carter went 4 for 4 with two RBI and three runs scored. Leadoff hitter Alivia Cooper had a pair of hits, including a double with three RBI and three runs scored.
Kinnley Murphy was also perfect at the plate with three hits, three RBI and two runs scored with Ryleigh Watrous adding a pair of hits and three RBI in the rout.
“It’s been a dream. We’ve worked so hard and we’ve prepared for every single game,” Murphy said. “This is the hardest working team I know. We so deserve to be here .”
Clark (38-6), which had only two seniors in its starting lineup, battled for a run in each of the final three innings thanks to a Zyniia Tichenor fielder’s choice with the bases loaded in the third, a Jordyn Abner RBI double to center in the fourth and Lilliana Hill’s RBI double to center in the fifth.
But the Chargers pitchers Mackenzie Mingus and then Watrous were able to combine to strand eight Cardinals on the bases while striking out four apiece. Watrous struck out the side after Hill’s double in the fifth.
South Warren 11, Highlands 0 (5 innings)
South Warren leadoff hitter Hudson McLaine hammered the first pitch she saw deep over the center field fence to open their semifinals contest with No. 16 Highlands (35-7). Two batters later, Layla Ogden homered to left field for a 2-0 lead that would be all the Spartans needed.
But the highest scoring team in KHSAA history (558 runs and counting) wasn’t done. Hudson, a senior Florida State signee, homered again in her next at-bat and matched teammate Hadley Borders with three hits and two RBI. Hudson scored four runs to Borders’ three. South Warren’s Parker Willoughby knocked in three runs on a hit.
Both Borders and Willoughby had RBI singles in the fifth inning to help set the mercy-rule margin for South Warren starter Courtney Norwood. Norwood allowed two hits and recorded six strikeouts in four innings and combined on the shutout with Ogden, who got three groundouts to end the game.
Softball State Tournament
At the University of Kentucky’s John Cropp Stadium
SATURDAY’S FINAL
7 p.m.: South Warren vs. Bullitt East.
