MALE BULLDOGS
* Record: 29-8.
* Coach: Josh Bloomer (fourth season, 123-44-1 record).
* State ranking: No. 7.
* State titles: None.
* Last trip to State: 2015 (lost to McCracken County 2-1 in final).
* 26th District score: Beat Assumption 5-0 in final.
* Seventh Region Tournament scores: Beat Presentation 6-0 in quarterfinal, Ballard 3-2 in semifinal and Eastern 5-4 in final.
* Probable batting order: Taylor Childress (Sr., CF, .300 batting average, 4 RBI, 27 runs, 18 SB); Morgan Zuege (8th, RF, .341, 4 RBI, 12 runs); Danielle Walls (Jr., C, .410, 3 HR, 27 RBI, 11 runs); Olivia Suski (Jr., P, .330, 5 HR, 24 RBI, 13 runs); Bayleigh Masterson (Jr., 3B, .389, 3 HR, 24 RBI, 18 runs); Alyssa Case (So., 1B, .316, 4 HR, 20 RBI, 20 runs); Madison McCoy (Fr., 2B, .353, 4 HR, 20 RBI, 25 runs, 14 SB); Jaelyn Sanders (8th, DP, .333, 3 RBI, 11 runs, 8 SB); Haley Simon (Jr., SS, .145, 3 RBI, 5 runs, 9 SB); Jenna Howell (So., FL, .320, 10 RBI, 14 runs, 8 SB).
* Top pitchers: Olivia Suski (Jr., 20-5, 2.05 ERA); Megan Cunningham (Sr., 5-2, 1.86 ERA); Jaelyn Sanders (8th, 4-1, 3.50 ERA).
* Notes: Male is in the state tournament for the fourth straight season, having gone 0-2 in 2013, taking third place in 2014 and finishing as the runner-up to McCracken County last year. … Childress is a three-year starter and the only senior in the starting lineup. She has signed with Western Kentucky. … Suski was named Seventh Region Player of the Year by the Kentucky Softball Coaches Association.
* First-round game: The Bulldogs will face First Region champion and No. 1-ranked McCracken County (36-2) at 8 p.m. EDT Thursday. McCracken County is the defending state champion and is 5-1 against Male over the past three seasons. That includes an 11-3 victory on April 16 at the Scott County Round Robin.
* Coach speak: “In terms of pure talent, this is the most talented team I’ve had since my state championship team,” said Bloomer who won the title at Mercy in 2012 before taking the Male job. “But a lot of them hadn’t played on the varsity level, and it took longer than most people thought it might for them to understand the expectations and the speed. But over the last month, they’re playing great softball.”
