Daviess County and Owensboro Catholic met on the softball field Tuesday for the first 9th District showdown of the season and it didn’t disappoint as both teams starting pitchers dueled for seven innings but it was the host Panthers that came out on top.
Neither team could punch a run across in the first three frame but a big fourth propelled the Lady Panthers to the 5-1 victory over one of their district rivals.
“It’s nice to get a district win to start out with,” DC coach John Biggs said. “I thought our kids were pretty focused. We got some games under our belt. I thought offensively we’ve been playing really well. Defensively, that’s what we really tried to put some emphasis on the last few days and I even asked those girls in our postgame, you tell me what won that game. Unanimous, defense.”
Biggs said Tuesday was his teams best defensive performance of the season as they only had one error in the game and limited the Aces to five hits.
“Traditionally, that’s what our program has been built on,” he said. “This year and the last few years, we’ve been able to increase the offensive productivity but defensively I thought that was really the difference in the game.”
Daviess County has made the long ball their bread and butter this season but without any home runs in the win over Catholic, Biggs said they were still able to get it done by having good approaches at the plate and it worked out in their favor with five total hits and two extra-base hits.
“We can’t rely on that top half of the lineup,” he said. “We’ve really been working on that lower half, just going up there and having quality at bats. If you can have quality at bats, you may get some walks, you may get some balls in play. Just put the ball in play and make the other team have to make some plays.”
Hattie Newman singled to score the first run in the bottom of the fourth then a Lady Ace error scored two before another was tacked on to give the host Panthers a 4-0 lead after four.
Catholic coach Jeremy Phelps said he knew it’d be a good game.
“That’s a tough loss but that’s a good team,” he said. “I thought we did a great job. Our pitching, we kept them off balance for a long time. One or two plays here and there.”
Both teams added a run in the sixth inning but that’s as close as the Lady Aces would get in the game.
Phelps said that’s how they gain experience by playing teams like DC and the other they’ve packed into their difficult schedule this season.
“I like playing teams like them because it makes you better,” he said.
Greysee Whiteker earned the win in the circle for the Panthers as she went all seven innings and struck out six.
Biggs said it’s the best game he’s seen from Whiteker this season.
“I thought she did a really nice job of mixing pitches,” he said. “She’s developed a few new pitches. If she’s got her offspeed stuff working and she’s hitting her spots, she can be pretty good out there. I thought that was a good performance, probably her best performance this year.”
Abby Newman (2-4, 3B, 2 RBIs), Jessie Daniels (2-3, 2B, R) and Hattie Newman (2-3, RBI, R) all had multiple hits for DC in Tuesday’s victory.
Owensboro Catholic was led by Hadley Phelps (2-3) and Bailey Hamilton (2-3, RBI).
DC (6-1) has won six-straight games after their season-opening loss to South Warren as they’ll look to continue their streak today at Meade County.
Catholic (2-5) plays at home today against Evansville Memorial.
Daviess County 5, Owensboro Catholic 1
OC 000 001 0 1 5 2
DC 000 401 X 5 8 1
WP: Greysee Whiteker (7 IP, 6 K, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB)
LP: Hadley Phelps (6 IP, 3 K, 8 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 0 BB)
OC: Hadley Phelps (2-3), Bailey Hamilton (2-3, RBI), L Grant (1-2), R Jones (run)
DC: Abby Newman (2-4, 3B, 2 RBIs), Jessie Daniels (2-3, 2B, R), Greysee Whiteker (R), Hattie Newman (2-3, RBI, R), Katie Mewes (1-2, R), Kelsea Roby (1-1), Sophie Simone (R)
