Daviess County stayed patient at the plate, and a red-hot offense scored in bunches as the Lady Panthers looked dominant in a 9-2 win over Owensboro Catholic in Tuesday’s 9th District softball semifinal at Shifley Park.
With the win, Daviess County advances to Wednesday’s 5:30 p.m. title game against defending champion Apollo.
Normally a power-hitting team, the Lady Panthers (20-12) recorded 11 hits and none of them went for extra bases. A flurry of singles in the third and fourth innings allowed them to put up four runs in each frame after the Lady Aces (15-12) had taken an early 2-0 lead.
“I thought we made some adjustments and were able to put some balls in play there in the third and fourth innings,” said head coach John Biggs. “That was the key. That’s what we wanted to do. I thought it was key that the bottom of our lineup got on, so when Millie (Roberts) and some of the top hitters came up, (Catholic) basically had to pitch to them.”
Roberts — whose 13 homers trails the state leaders by only two — dropped in three hits in five at bats and drove in two runs.
“Millie, even though she didn’t hit some balls extremely hard, she put it in play hard enough that we were able to score some runs on some balls that really just dinked around out there,” Biggs said.
Roberts’ first hit came during the first big rally for DC. Abbey Pike, Roberts and Abby Newman hit three straight bloop singles to the shallow outfield to load the bases. An error then allowed Pike to score and Savanah Northern to reach safely. Cameron Hamilton drove in two runs with a single and one more scored on a fielder’s choice bunt by Emma Young.
Kelsey Whistle started off the bottom of the fourth inning with a hit, and pinch runner Katie Mewes scored on a single by Roberts. A single by Newman and ground out by Northern added one more run each. Newman then scored on a throwing error to cap off another four-run inning.
Roberts drove in one more in the fifth frame to extend the lead to 9-2.
Catholic’s offense, meanwhile, was struggling against the fresh arm of winning pitcher Emily Stanley. The Lady Panthers’ senior pitcher has contributed at the plate this season but her throwing has been limited while she recovered from an injury.
Before her start Tuesday, Stanley appeared in two games over the last two weeks and had thrown a total of 131 pitches over 8.1 innings. She nearly doubled that in the win, throwing 114 pitches in a complete game.
“I can’t say enough about Emily,” Biggs said. “Until the last two weeks, she hasn’t pitched any for us at all. We went with what we thought was the hot hand.”
Stanley gave up only one earned run five hits, struck out nine and did not walk a batter.
Catholic’s runs came in the first inning. Danielle Henning led off with a double and scored on a sac fly by Isabella Henning, and an RBI single by Hannah Carter allowed Camille Conkright to score.
Conkright finished with two hits. Hadley Phelps took the loss in five innings of work for the Lady Aces.
Newman scored twice for the Lady Panthers and added two hits. Pike and Sophie Simone also scored twice each. Northern and Hamilton each drove in a pair of runs.
“It’s a good team win,” Biggs said. “We got a lot of production from a lot of different kids.”
DCHS 004-410-0 —9-11-1
OCHS 200-000-0—2-5-2
WP: Stanley. LP: Phelps. 2B: D. Henning, Phelps (OC).
