In the second of Tuesday’s two-game slate at Calloway County, the McCracken County Lady Mustangs took on the Ballard Memorial Lady Bombers in the second round of the 2024 First Region softball tournament.
With a spot in the regional championship game at stake, the Lady Mustang bats rallied behind five perfect innings from Addley Leidecker to down the Lady Bombers 10-0, setting up a meeting with Paducah Tilghman in the final.
Leidecker took the ball to start for McCracken, pitching all five innings while not allowing a single baserunner, racking up six strikeouts on the night. Alongside her perfect outing, Leidecker went 1-for-2 at the plate, driving in a pair of runs.
In a stellar night for the top of the Lady Mustang order, Ellie Shoulders went 2-for-4 with three RBI out of the leadoff spot, including her walk-off single in the fifth, while Raygan Rodgers backed her up out of the two-spot, going 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and an RBI. Macy Butler and Grace Henderson both went 2-for-3 on the night, while Savannah McDowell and KG Walker each drove in a run.Freshman arm Madyson Bohde manned the circle for the Lady Bombers, striking out three while allowing 10 runs, seven earned, on 12 hits in 4.2 innings of work.
Bohde and Leidecker were each sharp to start, both pitching a clean first two innings, with Bohde striking out three of the first six batters she faced.
While Leidecker remained unscathed through her third inning as well, the Lady Mustangs became the first team to record a hit, with Butler reaching on a one-out single, stealing second during the next at-bat. Now with a runner in scoring position, Shoulders broke through the deadlock, shooting a liner into left field to drive Butler home for the first run of the evening. After a double from Rodgers brought the advantage to two runs, McCracken continued to pour on the pressure, tacking on two further hits and a sacrifice fly to add three more runs, taking a 5-0 lead into the fourth inning.
After both teams were sat down in order across the fourth, Leidecker remained perfect through five, picking up her fifth and sixth punchouts to bring the Lady Mustangs back up to bat.
Putting their quiet fourth inning behind them, Rodgers got McCracken in motion in the bottom of the fifth with her second double of the night, quickly being cashed in by a Walker single for the sixth run of the evening. Staying relentless, a sacrifice bunt for the seventh run was followed closely by back-to-back singles from McDowell and Henderson to drive home the eighth, with another two base hits on either side of a strikeout loading up the bases for Shoulders. With two away, Shoulders ripped a liner into center field, driving in two runs to walk the Lady Mustangs off into the regional final, capping off a 10-0 victory.
“We needed to come out and play as well [against Bohde] as we possibly could, she’s a great pitcher, there’s no doubt about that,” McCracken County head coach Tony Hayden said. “We stayed off her riseball, and hit the ball hard when we did hit. That’s the name of the game, if you play good defense and have good pitching, it doesn’t get much better than that...I couldn’t be more proud of how we attacked after the first inning, we settled in and really hit the ball hard. All we’ve got to do now is come back out tomorrow and play another perfect game.”
With the win, the Lady Mustangs advance in search of their fourth consecutive First Region title, and are set to meet Paducah Tilghman in tonight’s championship game, following the Lady Tornado’s 10-0 win over Calloway County.
“[Leidecker] was great tonight, we need that kind of performance out of all of our pitchers, hopefully tomorrow night they can all bring their A-game, and we can go get the Big Blue again,” Hayden continued, looking towards Wednesday’s tilt with Tilghman. “It’s something we all look forward to in Paducah...We’ve been here, we know what it takes to win these games, we just have to go out there and do it.
First pitch between the Lady Mustangs and Lady Tornado is set for Wednesday night at 6 p.m., back at Calloway County.
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 10, BALLARD MEMORIAL 0
BMHS 0 0 0 0 0 X X — 0 0 2
MCHS 0 0 5 0 5 X X — 10 12 0
WP: A. Leidecker; LP: M. Bohde
2B: MCHS — R. Rodgers 2
TB: MCHS — R. Rodgers 4, E. Shoulders 2, G. Henderson 2, M. Butler 2, A. Leidecker 1, K. Walker 1, M. O’Brien 1, S. McDowell 1
SF: MCHS — S. McDowell
SB: MCHS — M. Butler, S. Clark
E: BMHS — A. Hargrove, T. William
RECORDS: Ballard Memorial (15-12); McCracken County (29-7)