OWENSBORO, Ky. – Shut down by a tough sophomore pitcher from Scott County High School, the Male softball team was facing a rough road to its first state title.
Kennedy Sullivan tossed a one-hitter and struck out 12 as the Cardinals beat the Bulldogs 2-0 Friday in a winners bracket semifinal of the Worth/KHSAA State Tournament at Jack C. Fisher Park.
“We just didn’t make adjustments at the plate,” Male coach Josh Bloomer said. “If you chase her riseball, she’s going to be effective. We just didn’t track the ball real deep. We knew that’s what we had to stay off of.”
The loss dropped Male (31-9) – ranked No. 7 in the state – into a consolation bracket game later Friday night against No. 1 McCracken County (39-3). The Bulldogs, who beat McCracken County 3-1 Thursday in a first-round game, would have to win that game and four more Saturday to claim the state championship.
“We better let this game go,” Bloomer said of the loss. “If we don’t, we’re going to be going home tonight.”
No. 3 Scott County (34-2) advanced to face No. 2 Madisonville-North Hopkins (36-3) in Saturday’s 10 a.m. EDT winners bracket final. Madisonville-North Hopkins beat No. 10 Daviess County 6-2 in the other winners bracket semifinal.
Scott County got all the offense it needed against Male in the second inning after a one-out double by Sullivan. Jordan Ison followed with an RBI single to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Halie Fain walked to open the third inning, stole second and scored on an error to make it 2-0 in the third.
Meanwhile, Dani Walls’ fourth-inning single was Male’s only hit. The Bulldogs had a chance in the seventh after back-to-back one-out walks to Olivia Suski and Alyssa Case, but Sullivan struck out Bayleigh Masterson and Megan Cunningham to end the game.
“We ran ourselves out of some innings and did some dumb things,” Bloomer said. “We should still be playing a 0-0 game … but at this point of the year you make those mistakes and get dropped down into the losers bracket.”
Male advanced to face Scott County with a 5-1 victory over No. 21 North Laurel Friday morning.
Walls had an RBI triple and came home on a throwing error to give Male a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
After North Laurel pulled within 2-1 in the top of the fourth, Taylor Childress had a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth to give Male a 4-1 lead. Morgan Zuege followed with an RBI single for a 5-1 edge.
Suski got the victory for Male, allowing two hits and striking out five over four innings. Bloomer was pleased Suski got some rest, as eighth-grader Jaelyn Sanders pitched the final three innings. She allowed two hits and struck out one.
SCOTT COUNTY 011 000 0 – 2 5 1
MALE 000 000 0 – 0 1 2
WP – Kennedy Sullivan. LP – Olivia Suski. 2B – Kennedy Sullivan (SC).
NORTH LAUREL 000 100 0 – 1 4 3
MALE 200 300 x – 5 7 2
WP – Olivia Suski. LP – Mikayla Vires. SV – Jaelyn Sanders. 3B – Dani Walls (M). 2B – Kailin Yantz (NL), Olivia Miller (NL).