Tri-State Showcase: Lady Lions take two; Goad unloads on Corbin, Mercer County

Apr. 18—CANNONSBURG — The yard doesn't seem big enough for Jacie Goad.

The eighth-grader's power game helped Boyd County navigate a pair of wins in the final day of the Tri-State Showcase.

She knocked in the game-winning run on Saturday afternoon against Corbin. Several hours later she parked a pair of softballs over the fence in the late innings as the Lady Lions pulled away for a 11-3 win over Mercer County at the Boyd County Softball Complex.

"We had some girls get some really good hits," Boyd County coach Dave Wheeler said. "Jacie Goad has been wearing it out. A lot of people think it is natural, and a lot of it is, but they don't see what she does away from the field. She works her tail off. It shows. She is one of the best young hitters, not just around here, but in the state."

Senior Tori Badgett picked up her second win of the day in the circle. She scattered seven hits over seven innings against the Lady Titans. Boyd County outlasted the Lady Greyhounds, 7-6, in eight innings in the Lady Lions first contest of the day.

Wheeler was pleased how his team responded after 15-0 setback to No. 5 Boyle County the night before.

"We talked about how we were going to bounce back and what we were going to do after Friday night," Wheeler said. "We did a lot of situational stuff with our hitters which was beneficial. We got some timely hits when we needed them. In the second game, Tori comes out and she is spot on with all of her offspeed pitches."

"We made some plays and we kept it close," he added. "We talk about it a lot. When teams punch you in the mouth, how are you going to respond to that?"

The contest was tied early as teams benefited from their opponents' miscues. A Lady Lions throwing error scored two runs for the Lady Titans in the second inning. Madisynn Griffin took off for home when Boyd County bobbled another grounder, but the Lady Titans sophomore was tagged out in a rundown on the third base line.

"They juggled it around a little bit and helped us out," Mercer County coach Rob Tharp said. "We took advantage of that early and that's when we put runs up. We just struggled after that. We were rolling over on a lot of pitches. ... We didn't make the adjustment when we should have.

"I talked about it in the postgame huddle," he continued. "A lot of you saw (Boyd County's pitcher) three or four times. You have to make a minor adjustment yourself. You have to adjust and make something positive out of your bats. Don't keep beating a dead horse expecting a different result."

Mercer County tacked on another run with an RBI double from Ry'Ann Tharp in the next frame. Sara Bays launched the first pitch she saw in the home half of the fourth inning for a home run to knot the score at 3-3.

Rob Tharp watched his pitcher, Elle Prewitt, produce a strong performance after she tweaked an ankle injury earlier in the day against St. Albans, West Virginia.

"She might have been laboring, but she started off really good," Rob Tharp said. "She kept them off-balanced somewhat. She got herself in some tricky pitch counts where she had to go to a spot she didn't want to go to. They made us pay for it."

Goad's dinger in the fifth inning started a late inning scoring surge. Haylee Thornsberry started the sixth stanza with a single. After consecutive walks loaded the bases, two runs crossed home plate after miscommunication caused two Lady Titans to collide in right field on a fly ball.

Goad smacked a three-run shot and Myla Hamilton tallied an RBI single in the sixth inning to complete the scoring.

Bays scored three times for Boyd County (8-2). Thornsberry and Alex Blanton collected two hits and scored once. Goad recorded five RBIs.

Ry'Ann Tharp had three hits for Mercer County (7-6).

Earlier in the day, Corbin grabbed a one-run lead in the top of the eighth inning. The Lady Lions answered quickly with a Badgett sacrifice fly. Blanton singled in the next at-bat and stole second. Goad sent her home with a base hit.

Emma Borders was 2 for 4 with a double and a triple.

Wheeler saw so many positives from his team during the showcase. The list of schools that are interested in playing in the event keeps growing.

"We kicked it around a little bit (against Mercer County), but when you play 15 games at a facility, the surface will be kinda rough," Wheeler said. "We worked on shorting the distance down and we made some plays. It really good weekend for us. It was a learning curve, and we came out a better program and a better team."

(606) 326-2654 — msparks@dailyindependent.com

MERCER CO. 021 000 0 — 3 7 3

BOYD CO. 110 126 x — 11 9 7

Prewitt, Howard (6) and Pittman. Badgett and Peterman. W—Badgett. L—Prewitt. 2B—Tharp (MC). HR—Bays (BC), Goad 2 (BC).

CORBIN 201 010 11 — 6 11 1

BOYD CO. 002 201 02 — 7 9 2

Badgett and Peterman. W—Badgett. 2B—Reynolds (C), Borders (BC). Goad (BC). 3B—Borders (BC). HR—Goad (BC), Mulhearn (BC).