Daviess County’s performance at the plate earned them a big 13-0 win over Mercer County and a spot in the quarterfinals. The Lady Panthers racked up 16 total hits, 13 RBIs and a home run by Molly Hancock as well. DCHS will play Assumption in the quarterfinal round at 9 a.m. June 8.
The Lady Panthers had a big first inning to open the game. Sadie Morris led off and got walked to first before Shelby Bennett got the first hit of the game with a bunt. After Annie Newman’s first trip to the plate ended with a fielder’s choice at home, Callie Smith hit the first RBI of the game to right field to run in Bennett.
Hancock immediately stepped up to the plate and battled until the count reached 3-2. She then hit a bomb out of the park for a 3-run homer. This big hit gave DCHS an early 4-0 lead as well as set the tone for the rest of the game. Lady Panthers head coach John Biggs praised Hancock’s recent form and said that her home run was huge in both getting a foothold early on and taking pressure off the rest of the defense.
“Molly Hancock has been really on fire for us the last three weeks of the season,” he said. “She’s seeing the ball really well. She battled there. I think she had two strikes when she actually hit that out, so she’s seeing the ball really well for us. Anytime you can put up a 4-spot in that first inning it kind of takes the pressure off the defense and on pitching.”
The second inning saw Daviess County extend their lead with an RBI single by Bennett that scored Kylie Clark, and Newman hit a double deep into left field that hit the back fence and was just shy of leaving the park. Bennett crossed home plate and took the score to 6-0. DCHS kept their momentum going in the third as Hancock hit a lead-off double to get into scoring position. Danielle Beckwith brought her home with an RBI single. Clark had a big hit herself later on down the lineup as she hit an RBI double to score both Beckwith and Brylyn Boswell.
Morris was walked again to put runners on first and second before a fly out put them on 2 outs. Newman came up big at the plate again with a line drive double that scored both Clark and Morris. Biggs said Newman’s keen eye comes from patience, and she’s shown that she’s the type of batter that doesn’t worry Biggs if they go down in the count or swing at an undesirable pitch.
“Annie’s also another one of the kids who’s really barreling the ball,” he said. “She’s patient. She kind of swung at one that was out of the zone that I didn’t think she should’ve chased. She’s one of those types of hitters where you can put up with because you know she’s going to come back and barrel it out.”
Smith was next up, and she hit an RBI single to center field to bring in Newman. DC’s final run came in the fourth inning when Madeline battled at the plate to get herself a double out into right field. Briley Henry then lined a single to right field to put runners on first and third. Story Hume had the last RBI of the game as she hit a line drive into right field to run in Jarboe for a 13-0 scoreline. DCHS then continued their tight defense to keep Mercer scoreless until the game was called after the fifth inning. Daviess County only allowed one hit throughout the game, but it wasn’t easy as Sophia Cain had to make adjustments on the mound, Biggs said. Once the defense as a whole made all the routine plays needed to make life difficult at the plate for Mercer.
““We had to adjust a little bit to the zone, but that was both offensive and defensive,” he said. “I thought Sophia did a good job of that. There’s some calls and pitches that she’s usually successful with, she wasn’t having success with. We had to kind of change some things a little bit. She did a really good job and got stronger as it went on.”
“I think we really made all of the routine plays we needed to,” he continued. “That’s kind of the way this team’s been built. We know that the defense is going to be the steady thing for us. We feel like once we get through the lineup a couple times then we really start barreling the balls up. You know, we’re still growing in the circle, I don’t think we’ve seen the best out of our circle yet.”
The Lady Panthers will play their quarterfinal game against Assumption at 9 a.m. With a big 13-0 win to start the tournament, Biggs said the team will continue to stay in their routine to keep things familiar. Although this is the program’s fifth consecutive trip to Lexington, Biggs made it clear that playing in the state tournament is a privilege that the team has certainly earned. He said this year’s team is young at its core, but the older players are using what they learned from the leaders of the past to help benefit and lead the team.
“I’ve told the girls that this is a privilege to play here, but they’ve earned this privilege,” he said. “We’re up here to win some softball games, but we also want them to leave here with some lifetime memories and experiences that when softball is over, they’ll look back and say, ‘man, that was a great experience.’ They’ve benefitted from some really good leadership from some older kids in the past. They’ve been here and they saw the leadership of others that have moved on, so it’s kind of like they’re stepping right in line with that.”
Having made many appearances in the state tournament in recent years, being a part of Daviess County softball comes with high expectations and a target on one’s back, Biggs said. He wouldn’t want it any other way however, and the girls have risen to meet those expectations, he said. After a close encounter with Meade County in the regional semis, Biggs said the team doesn’t take their position today for granted and knows the job that needs to be done.
“I think the bar has been set very high, so when you suit up for us that expectation is there,” he said. “These kids and the teams in the past have had to play with that kind of bullseye on their back throughout the year. That is the expectation, and we talked a lot about that and how that’s where we want to be. You know, we were one play away from not advancing to the regional final, and I think they took that in and saw that. It wasn’t so much an eye-opener, but they said, ‘Hey, we can’t take this for granted.’ They don’t, and they know the task at hand. Some of them have experience on the field and some have been in the dugout, and they all saw how the others conducted themselves. That helps a lot along with the familiarity in hotels and stuff like that. I think we benefit from that greatly.”
