Despite already facing Owensboro Catholic twice this year, Daviess County’s starting pitcher, Sophia Cain, had a few hidden pitches in her repertoire that she saved for round three. The results spoke for itself – striking out six across six shutout innings in the Lady Panthers’ 10-0 win over the Lady Aces to win their sixth straight 9th District Championship.
“The past two times I faced them we went curve and out and we didn’t go rise,” Cain said. “We were just working out of the zone that they had never seen before. I have a couple of pitches I hadn’t thrown yet the last two games, so this game we tried to work in more of the pitches we hadn’t thrown yet.”
Boasting one of the top offenses in the state, it took until the bottom of the second inning for the Lady Panthers to get on the board – Cain doubled home two runs for a 2-0 lead. From there, the floodgates opened with Annie Newman leading the charge. The junior finished 4-4 with three RBIs including a solo homer in the bottom of the third.
“Annie just sees the ball extremely well and the power she can hit the ball with is unbelievable,” Daviess County head coach John Biggs said. “That doesn’t come from a lack of work, she puts in a ton of effort. I got here two and a half hours early, and she was already here, soft tossing with three others and taking hacks herself.”
Daviess County added another run in the bottom of the third on a fielders choice, a run in the fourth, three in the fifth, and one in the sixth to enact the mercy rule. Callie Smith, Briley Henry, and Shelby Bennett combined for five hits and four RBIs, while Cain went 1-2 with two RBIs.
“I don’t really get to hit that often, so I have nothing to lose when I go up there,” Cain siad. “I try to get as many hits as I can.”
The Lady Panthers are now 8-0 on the season against their 9th district rivals and have yet to allow a run over that span.
For Owensboro Catholic, Maren Riney had the team’s lone hit and Harper Latham also reached via an error. Lily Medley started in the circle, allowing four earned runs over 3 1/3 innings, while Railey Scott pitched in relief.
The two teams now await the 3rd Region Tournament draw that is scheduled for later this week and the tournament starting next week at Meade County.
