By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Most of the players on the Notre Dame Academy softball team were making their first appearance in the 9th Region championship game when they took the field against Highlands on Thursday at Northern Kentucky University. The young Pandas got off to a rocky start with seven fielding errors, but they mounted a comeback in the final two innings and came away with a 5-4 win.
Notre Dame scored two runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to defeat the defending regional champions. The rally came after coach Joe Stephenson said a few words to pump up the Pandas.
“Towards the end, I told them, ‘Listen girls, nobody’s ever going to give you anything in life. If you want something, you’ve got to take it, and now’s the time to take it,'” Stephenson said.
Notre Dame (26-6) advances to next week’s double-elimination state tournament in Owensboro. The Pandas will play 16th Region champion Ashland Blazer in a first-round game at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Highlands ends the season with a 24-9 record.
Highlands scored its first two runs on throwing errors by the Pandas and had a 3-0 lead going into the sixth inning. But a pair of run-scoring doubles by Notre Dame sophomores Angela Huston and Cori Ladanyi quickly cut the lead to 3-2.
In the seventh inning, Notre Dame had bases loaded with one out when Huston sliced a double down the right field line that scored two runs to put the Pandas ahead. They picked up another run when sophomore Alecia Radford scored on a ground out by Ladanyi to make it 5-3.
Highlands made it a one-run game in the bottom of seventh inning when pinch-runner Chloe Jansen scored from third base on a ground out by Kara Fornash. But the next batter hit a ball back to Notre Dame pitcher Haylee Smith and she threw it to first base for the final out.
“This is amazing,” Huston said after her team’s come-from-behind victory. “This is Haylee’s senior year and we wanted it really bad for her. Our coach just told us to fight to the last pitch and we did that. We just never gave up.”
This is the second time in the last three years that Notre Dame has won the regional tournament with Smith doing the pitching. She also played on three regional championship teams at Ryle before transferring to Notre Dame. But the senior veteran was just as excited as her younger teammates after Thursday’s victory.
“I believed we were going to come back,” Smith said. “I told the girls I was going to be OK with us going down as long as we played our hearts out, and that’s what they did. They gave it all they had and I couldn’t ask for a better ending to my senior year.”
Smith, the only senior on the Notre Dame roster, was named most valuable player on the regional all-tournament team. She gave up 11 hits in the championship game, but she countered that with nine strikeouts and went 4-for-4 at the plate. Highlands junior pitcher Bailey Spencer also gave up 11 hits, with six of them coming in the last two innings when the Pandas made their comeback.
Huston’s two run-scoring doubles were the biggest hits for the Pandas in the final two innings. The first one landed at the base of the left-field fence and the second one dropped just inside the right-field foul line.
“I was just trying to go with the pitch,” Huston said of her second double. “It was outside so I had to go with. I got under it a little, but nobody was there and luckily it dropped.”
Highlands had not given up a run in the regional tournment until Huston’s first double put the Pandas on the scoreboard. Highlands coach Robert Coffey said his team “lost focus” in the field during those final two innings. But the Bluebirds still had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh.
“We were coming in (to bat) with the bottom half of our lineup, who hadn’t hit Haylee well all year, and they put the ball in play,” Coffey said. “My team made a run at it against a great pitcher. We just couldn’t execute at the end.”
NOTRE DAME 000-002-3–5 11 7
HIGHLANDS 001-200-1–4 11 2
WP: Smith. LP: Spencer. HITTING LEADERS: ND–Smith 4-4; Radford 2-4; Huston 2-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI; Ladanyi 2B. H–Quillen 4-4, 2B; Spencer 2-3. RECORDS: Notre Dame 26-6, Highlands 24-9.
9TH REGION ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Notre Dame — Haylee Smith (MVP), Alecia Radford, Angela Huston, Rylee Stephenson.
Highlands — Whitney Quillen, Shelby Graybill, Bailey Spencer.
Ryle — MacKenzie Irons, Kennady Carson.
Conner — Alexa Snelbaker, Elizabeth Simms.
Dixie Heights — Kaylee McGinn.
NewCath — Casey Kohls.
St. Henry — Jordan Kramer.
Beechwood — Casey Grant