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44TH DISTRICT SOFTBALL: Lady Indians look to claim first title since 2017

nathan hutchinson, richmond register, ky.
·3 min read

May 23—The Lady Indians (20-4) have more wins this season than the other three teams in the 44th District combined — Model (10-11), Madison Southern (4-23) and Berea Community (2-8).

They will still need, however, to beat two of those schools to finally reclaim the championship.

Madison Central will take on Madison Southern at 5:30 p.m. today in the opening round of the 44th District Tournament at Berea College. Model and Berea will meet in the other semifinal at 7:30 p.m.

The championship game is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday.

Central has not won a district titles since 2017.

Madison Southern is the three-time defending champs — 2018, 2019, 2021.

The Lady Indians have the best RPI of any team in the 11th Region (.67529) and three of their four losses this season have come against ranked opponents (No. 1 Ballard, and No, 16 Boyle County and No. 18 Male).

Central and Southern met once during the regular season, with the Indians earning a 9-2 win on May 5 in Berea.

Central has five hitters batting over .300 — Macaila Morin (.393, 2 home runs), Cassidy Hack (.367, two home runs). Hannah Ison (.333, one home run), Haley Sebastian (.316) and Olivia Metcalfe (.338 — six home runs) — and have a total of 16 home runs by eight different players.

The Lady Indians have gotten solid performances in the circle by three pitchers this season — Jasmine Kaylor (6-4, 2.91 ERA), Cassidy Gentry (9-0, 2.31 ERA) and Andrea Linton (5-0, 2.02 ERA). Central's pitchers a total of 104 strikeouts with just 27 walks in 159 innings.

Central has not played since an 11-4 loss to Male on May 14.

Southern lost 19-straight games before a 5-4 win over Clark County on May 12. The Lady Eagles, though, have won three of their past seven games, including a 14-1 victory at home over Model on Friday.

Ashlan Estep leads the Southern offense with a .390 batting average. She has a team-best 30 hits and 12 walks. Jada Carter is hitting .364 with 28 hits and nine RBI.

Crystal Cooke (.371, 16 RBI) and Kayley Goss both have three home runs and Katelyn Bolin has a team-best 19 RBI.

Kennedy Alcorn has taken over as the Southern starter in the circle recently. The freshman is 3-5 with a 12.75 ERA in 37 innings. She earned the complete-game win over Model last week.

Model and the Lady Pirates have already met twice this season, with the Lady Patriots picking up a 20-5 win on April 21 in Richmond and 14-4 on May 5 in Berea.

Model's Anniston Bray is leading the state — according to KHSAA stats — in batting average. The senior is hitting .745 with 35 hits in just 19 games, including five doubles, four triples and two home runs. She also had 25 walks — eighth-most in the state — and a state-leading 55 stolen bases.

As a team, the Lady Patriots have 114 stolen bases, 23rd-most in the state.

Senior Kenzie Ferguson is hitting .561 with a team-best 21 RBI, while Claire Garner is hitting .577 with 17 RBI.

Hannah Smith (28 innings), Piper Moore (54 innings) and Bray (24 innings) have all seen action in the circle this season for Model.

Berea has just one win since April 15.

The Lady Pirates closed out the regular season with 18-3 loss last Tuesday at home to Rockcastle County.

Senior Mackenzie Howell is hitting .480 on the year with 10 RBI. Taylor Johnson (.385) has a team-best 11 RBI, while Page Johnson (.379) has eight RBI.

Makenzie Strong (23 innings pitched, 7.50 ERA) and Kadence Bertotto (30 innings pitched, 20.77 ERA) have split time in the circle this season for Berea.

Berea has not advanced to the 44th District title game since 2018.

Model has not been to the championship game since 2015.