Starting 5: Louisville Bats on roll, Bellarmine star leading way, Ballard softball success

The Louisville Bats were 3-11 on April 15 and losers of nine straight at one point. A week later, things are looking up. The Bats (7-12) have won five of their last six games and have two of the top prospects in the Cincinnati Reds farm system healthy again.

Matt McLain, the No. 5 prospect in the system according to MLB.com, has been as good as advertised this season. He is hitting .277 with a .405 on-base percentage and has smacked five home runs, including three in the last seven games. The 23-year-old shortstop from UCLA, who is making a strong case to be called up to the big leagues this season, hit a monster 409-footer Thursday to seal a win over Charlotte.

And now McLain is joined by the No. 8 prospect in Elly De La Cruz, who debuted Thursday after missing the start of the season with a hamstring injury. The 21-year-old is still working his way back to full strength, missing the second half of Saturday's double-header, but he legged out a double Thursday and showed off his defensive range in the first game Saturday on a liner up the middle that he snared.

How long McLain and De La Cruz are in Triple-AAA remains to be seen.

The Bats, who lost to Charlotte Saturday evening, hit the road for two weeks starting Tuesday at Iowa.

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Around the city: Bellarmine's Kyle Playsted leading nation

The top scorer in all of Division I men's lacrosse hails from Bellarmine. Kyle Playsted's 73 points (37 goals, 36 assists) this season lead the country.

Playsted had four goals and an assist in he Knights' 18-3 win at Detroit Mercy Saturday. BU (10-4, 5-3 ASUN), which clinched a berth in next month's ASUN Championships, hosts Jacksonville University next weekend to end the regular season.

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Performance of the week: Ballard softball's Brooke Gray throws no-nos

Ballard softball keeps growing its record winning streak and is now 16-0 this season. But pitcher Brooke Gray was on another level recently.

The senior threw consecutive no-hitters the last couple weeks. The first was an 11-inning gem that required 136 pitches to hold off Greenwood 1-0 on April 14. Gray struck out 22 batters in the game — two out of every three she faced. On Tuesday she followed that up with a seven-inning no-hitter, fanning 13 in a 2-0 win over Eastern.

The Louisville commit has been nearly untouchable all season, 12-0 in 13 games with a 0.76 ERA and 144 Ks across 74 innings pitched.

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High school recruiting: Cole Hodge adds DI offer, girls hoops

• Christian Academy of Louisville junior quarterback Cole Hodge picked up his 17th Division I offer from Bowling Green. The three-star prospect also has offers from Eastern Kentucky and Miami (Ohio). He led the Centurians to the KHSAA Class 3A state championship in the fall.

• In girls basketball, Central's JaLa Douglas committed to Mississippi Valley State on Friday. The senior forward averaged 13.8 points and 6.9 rebounds per game this past season. And Mercy Academy's Mary Smith committed to Ave Maria University (Florida) on Wednesday. She averaged 9.8 points to help the Jaguars to the second round of the KHSAA Sweet 16.

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Mark your calendars

• The KHSAA Esports Spring Championships are Wednesday and Louisville is represented in several competitions. St. Xavier, Ballard, Manual, Trinity, Central and Kentucky Country Day will compete in the semifinals in Madden, Rocket League, League of Legions, Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. beginning at 10 a.m., with the finals starting at 1:30 p.m.

• Louisville City FC returns to U.S. Open Cup play Wednesday at FC Cincinnati at 7 p.m. and then visits Memphis 901 FC on Saturday night.

• Racing Louisville FC returns home Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against OL Reign, one of the top teams in the NWSL.

• U of L baseball has rescheduled its nonconference game with Kentucky for Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Cardinals then hosts Miami in a three-game ACC series beginning Thursday.

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Play of the week: Louisville softball's Taylor Roby launches record HR

Taylor Roby may very well go down as the greatest slugger in Louisville softball history. It's hard to argue with her school-record 58-career home runs. On Friday she set the single-season program record with her 18th bomb, a solo shot to straightaway center field that snapped her tie with Courtney Moore (2005) and sparked U of L's 5-3 comeback win over Virginia. The Bullitt East graduate is tied for second in program history with 174 RBIs behind Chelsea Bemis' mark of 191.

Each week we'll highlight what's going on in and around Louisville, from high school to pro sports, in our "Starting 5." Got a story to tell or a play of the week? Tweet at us @CJ_Sports or email us at jadams@gannett.com. You can follow assistant sports editor Jake Adams on Twitter @jakeadams520.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville softball, Ballard softball, Bellarmine LAX, Bats baseball