A pair of grand slams, a couple of two-run homers and one solo shot helped Daviess County cruise to a four inning, 18-0 win over Owensboro in Monday’s 9th District softball game at Shifley Park.
Millie Roberts hit a pair of long home runs to center field — with the bases empty in the second inning and loaded in the third — to go along with a double, finishing 3-for-3 with six RBIs and two runs scored.
Emma Young and Sydney Howard hit nearly identical two-run blasts to left field with two outs in the first, and Kelsey Whistley lined a grand slam to the same spot in the fourth.
The Lady Panthers (14-10, 3-2 9th District) racked up 20 hits, while the Lady Devils (2-15, 0-6) only had one. Daviess County got help from the entire lineup, something head coach John Biggs said they’ve struggled with at times.
“We were patient and we got our pitches that we needed,” he said. “It’s good when you can get production up and down the lineup. We’ve gotten production throughout the lineup, we just haven’t put together many games where it was everybody for that particular game. It was nice to have that today.”
Abbey Pike, hitting ninth, had three hits, a run and an RBI. Cameron Hamilton, Emily Stanley, Howard, Joli Arend and Whistle each had two hits. Pike and Abby Newman each recorded a double.
Hamilton got the win in the circle, giving up a single hit and striking out eight through 3.1 innings.
For Owensboro, Brooke Keller made her first start of the season and threw a total of 2.2 innings. Though she gave up 11 runs on 14 hits, head coach Bryan Smith was pleased with the effort.
“She’s been great on her location,” Smith said. “I thought we would throw her in there and see how she does against some good district competition, and I thought she did a great job. There were three plays (by the defense) that I thought should have been made that extended innings. You can’t do that against Daviess County.”
The lone hit for Owensboro came on a single by Emma Kingsley in the first inning, but she was stranded at second after advancing on a wild pitch.
District play is now over tor the Lady Devils, who will enter the postseason with the No. 4 seed. Smith said he’s hoping to close the regular season on a high note.
“We didn’t do well against district, but we’ve still got a lot of winnable games left,” he said. “I’d like to see us make more plays and hit the ball better. That’s our focus these last two weeks.”
The Lady Panthers have an important matchup with Apollo on Tuesday night, with the top spot in the district on the line. A win by the E-Gals — who beat the Lady Panthers 4-2 on Friday — would give them the No. 1 seed and leave Daviess County in a tie with Owensboro Catholic for second place.
A Lady Panthers’ victory would create a three-way tie at the top.
“We’ll savor this a little bit, but we know what we’ve got coming and what’s on the line,” Biggs said. “Like I’ve told the kids all year, it’s not the end of the world. I just want us to come out and play well and keep getting better. If we can do that, I’ll take my chances with this group when it comes to the district tournament.”
DCHS 526-5—18-20-0
OHS 000-0—0-1-1
WP: Hamilton. LP: Keller. 2B: Newman, Pike (DC). HR: Roberts 2, Young, Howard, Whistle (DC).
