Miscues sink Lady Cats in All ‘A’ finals

Bath County's Jessellin Miller reaches out to put the tag on Raceland's Emily Johnson as she slides into third base. The play came at the end of Johnson's triple in the sixth inning. Photo by Brad Laux/1016sports.

If the outcome of a softball game was based on earned runs, the Bath County Lady Cats would be packing their bags next week for a trip to the Touchstone Energy All “A” State Tournament in Owensboro.

Obviously, all runs, earned or unearned, count the same, and unfortunately for Bath County (12-6), it gave up more than visiting Raceland on Friday night in the 16th Region All “A” Championship and fell 10-6.

Raceland (12-4) captured the title for the third straight spring and the eighth time in the 13-year history of the event. The All “A” regional power will make a return trip to

McKenna Moore went the distance in the circle

for the Lady Cats, but got the loss despite

allowing just four earned runs and three walks,

while striking out eight.

Photo by Brad Laux/1016sports.

Owensboro on April 30 and May 1 for the state tournament.

The outcome was heartbreaking for Bath County, which was playing in the finals for the fourth time in school history and also serving as the regional-tournament host. Arguably, it was BCHS’ best chance to represent the region in the state’s small-school marquee event.

“I feel like if you take away about four errors out of the seven we committed, and this game is probably going in our favor,” Lady Cat head coach Kenny Williams said. “I thought McKenna (Moore) pitched a great game, kept them a little bit off balance. They’re a good-hitting club and they put the bat on the ball and had balls drop (in play). But, I felt like we kind of gave it away there. We kicked it around when we shouldn’t have. We haven’t been doing that all year and we did it tonight. This is why they give trophies away. They had it tonight and we didn’t.”

The seven errors led to six Raceland runs and sabotaged Bath County’s chance to stretch its win streak to four. Counting just earned runs, BCHS walks away with a 5-4 victory.

The Lady Cats started out the game on the wrong foot, allowing the first three batters to reach base safely. By the end of the inning, they had surrendered an error, a passed ball, two walks and two wild pitches. The result was three Raceland runs.

Despite the early struggles, Bath County did not wilt. In the bottom of the first, Moore walked, Keely Crouch reached on an infield single and Paige Faudere singled to left field to put the hosts on the scoreboard. Darby Fraley added another walk and Shelby Walker tacked on an infield hit to plate Crouch and Faudere to tie the score.

Williams was impressed by the resiliency Moore showed in the circle when the team got behind.

“We dug a hole early and she could have hung her head when it was 3-0 and she could have gotten down on herself and it could have been 10 or 15 to nothing (and over) in three (innings) and we’re all sitting at the house right now,” he said. “But, she kept battling, mixing up her pitches some. I thought all in all, she did a pretty decent job pitching and kept them a little bit off balance. When we got into a hole, she worked us out of some jams.”

Both teams added a run in the second inning. The Lady Rams strung together a pair of hits, but also benefitted from two errors. Bath County, too, profited from defensive miscues as Miller crossed the plate after a dropped fly ball with two outs.

Raceland kept the pressure on and scored four times in the top of the fourth. The Lady Rams collected three hits in the inning, but capitalized off three more Lady Cat errors.

“We have some really aggressive base runners,” said Raceland’s acting head coach Robbie West. “We have some fast girls and really smart runners, so we try to take advantage of every situation that we possibly can.”

West guided the team through the tournament (including an 11-1 quarterfinal win over West Carter and a 21-0 semifinal victory over Elliott County), while head coach Shawn Johnson was sidelined because of a three-game suspension.

Bath County again responded to the challenge in the bottom of the fourth. Madison Henderson led off with a single up the middle and Miller reached on a walk. Moore added another single and Haley McFarland drew a bases-loaded walk to push Henderson home. Miller scored the team’s second run of the inning after a wild pitch.

Raceland’s offense continued to gain steam as Lady Ram sisters Madison and Emily Johnson each tripled in the sixth inning, which led to two more runs.

“They battled very well at the plate. I thought Bath County’s pitcher threw a heck of a game. She moved the ball around the plate really well and she made us swing at bad pitches. We weren’t very disciplined at the plate, but we settled in and started hitting the ball really well,” West said of his team’s late-game offense. “I’m really impressed with the amount of runs we put up (this week). We hit the ball really well. We hit the ball really well (last week) at Myrtle Beach and it carried over to the tournament.”

West turned to senior Savannah Mackie to save the game and secure the win. Mackie entered in the bottom of the sixth and retired nine of the 10 batters she faced. McFarland’s seventh inning single was the lone hit Mackie allowed.

Raceland claimed a 9-6 edge in hits and made only two errors. Rylie Austin earned the win after pitching four innings. She surrendered five earned runs and five hits, while walking six and striking out four. Mackie added two strikeouts in her three innings of work.

Madison Johnson led the visitors at the plate with a 4-for-4 performance. She also scored three times and drove in a run. Austin contributed two hits, three runs and an RBI.

Moore went the distance in the circle for the Lady Cats. Only four of the 10 runs she allowed were earned. She finished with eight strikeouts and three walks.

The Lady Cats spread out their hits. Moore, Crouch, McFarland, Faudere, Walker and Henderson recoded one apiece. Miller walked twice and scored both times. Walker was credited with two RBI, while McFarland and Faudere each added one.

Bath County advanced to the championship after defeating Morgan County 15-11 at home in Thursday’s semifinals. The Lady Cats had a first-round bye in the seven-team tournament.

Williams credited the team’s fortitude as key to earning the win over the Lady Cougars.

“Once again, we dug a hole early. I told the girls, ‘Morgan (County) is scrappy’. Don’t think that all you’ve got to do is show up with them. They’re going to come out and play and they did. They battled inning for inning and hit for hit. They really put the bat on the ball,” he said.

“There were a couple of times I wanted to bring McKenna in and see if we could get a little ‘fire and ice’ going, (but) Madison (Henderson) kept pitching. I left her in there and she got herself out of some jams and held her own,” Williams continued. “Luckily, we got the offense going and helped her out, and got us a wide enough margin that we could hold on there in the end and be here tonight.”