In an all-out pitcher’s duel one run would decide the winner, with junior Emmie Bullington throwing a complete-game shutout to help the E-gals beat No. 3 ranked Daviess County 1-0 for the first time since 2019.
Junior Raylee Roby and Bullington had their respective opponents bamboozled early on, holding the Lady Panthers and Apollo hitless through three innings.
Junior Jessie Daniels recorded the first hit of the day in the top of the fourth, but nothing would come of it. After an error by Daviess County to start the bottom half, junior Morgan Julian gave the E-gals their first hit with a bunt single.
With runners on the corners and no outs, junior K’Asia Palmer flew out to left and plated sophomore Mallory Velotta to give Apollo a 1-0 lead. Roby worked out of the jam after giving up the run, making it a 1-0 game going into the fifth.
The Lady Panthers were hitless in the fifth, but managed to get a double from Daniels in the sixth. Alas, the two-out double turned into nothing as Bullington continued to deal.
Daviess County showed signs of life with back-to-back singles to open up the top of the seventh, before a groundout from eighth grader Annie Newman put runners in scoring position.
Senior Sophie Simone proceeded to reach base on a ball to third to load the bases with one out the following at-bat. Junior Kayley Payne hit a grounder to third leading to an out at the plate shortly after, making senior Hattie Newman the Lady Panthers final hope.
However, Hattie Newman struck out for the second time on the day, as Bullington closed the door on a 1-0 win for Apollo.
“I thought both teams played solid,” Head Coach John Biggs said. “I thought both pitchers did a really nice job. Emmie did a nice job of keeping our hitters off balance a bit with her changeup. But, I thought we were patient and did a good job of making her throw a lot of pitches.”
Bullington tossed all seven innings, allowing just four hits, while walking three and striking out five.
“Emmie did a fantastic job tonight,” Julian said. “She finished strong and didn’t fade off. In Florida last week, a couple games we kind of felt like she got tired and threw a lot of innings. She was at full strength the whole game today and pitched as well in the last inning and she did in the first inning.”
Roby also had an equally impressive outing, giving up just one run on one hit and striking out five on the day.
Julian and Palmer were responsible for all of the E-gals offense, supplying the lone hit and RBI of the game for them respectively. Daniels had a pair of hits for Daviess County, while Rowan and Vergason had a hit each.
Stephen said that they did a great job of backing up Bullington in the field as well, helping them pick up momentum and come away victorious.
“Defense did a great job today and made most of the routine plays,” Julian said. “There were a couple of plays we probably should’ve made but we didn’t, but it didn’t come back to haunt us too much. The girls played with energy.”
Apollo moves to 6-5 overall with the win, while now sitting at 2-0 in district play after defeating the Lady Panthers and Owensboro Catholic earlier this season. They’ll look to stay strong when they hit the road on Thursday, set for a 6 p.m. matchup against Tecumseh.
Meanwhile, Daviess County has its seven-game winning streak and falls to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in district play. They have a number of tough opponents ahead of them, with the first being Henderson County at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday.
“We’ve got a tough stretch coming up here,” Biggs said. “We’ve got eight games in about 10 or maybe 12 days. It may be tough, but that’ll make us better when we get to the district tournament.”
