By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
After Ryle’s fast-pitch softball team won the 9th Region championship game last Friday, coach Craig Milburn pulled a $50 bill out of his pocket and told the parents gathered around him that he was accepting donations to take the players out to dinner when they got to Owensboro for the state tournament.
The 69-year-old coach wanted to do something special to celebrate the Raiders making their first trip to the Owensboro Health/KHSAA state tournament since 2012. And he’s counting on them to do better than the last five 9th Region champions who had a combined record of 4-10 in the double-elimination playoffs.
Ryle enters the state tournament with a 23-6 record and 12-game winning streak. The Raiders’ first-round opponent at 5 p.m. (CST) Thursday will be Warren East (29-4), a team that has allowed just 1.6 runs per game and has posted 15 shutouts this season.
“I think we’re up against some really hard regions (in our bracket),” said Ryle junior pitcher Hannah Bishop. “But with the momentum we’ve had lately I think we’ll do fine, and if our bats are there we’ll do great.”
Bishop enters the state tournament with a 19-4 pitching record and 2.25 earned run average. She only has 65 strikeouts in 140 innings, but her teammates have played top-notch defense behind her.
The Raiders’ best fielder is also the team’s leading hitter. Senior shortstop Maclai Branson, a University of Kentucky recruit, is batting .593 (51 of 86) with only seven strikeouts. She also leads the team in home runs (16), runs scored (59) and runs batted in (45).
This is Branson’s seventh season on the Ryle varsity roster. She was a sixth-grader on the 2012 team and got into three state tournament games as a pinch runner. She’s looking forward to actually stepping up to the plate in Thursday’s first-round game.
“It’s been seven long years, but I’ve put in the work and my teammates have put in the work and we deserve to go to the state tournament,” she said after the regional final.
OWENSBORO HEALTH/KHSAA STATE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
(at Jack Fischer Park, Owensboro / all times are CST)
THURSDAY — Upper bracket
Louisville Butler (26-9) vs. East Carter (37-0), 5 p.m.
RYLE (23-6) vs. Warren East (29-4), 5 p.m.
Pikeville (31-9) vs. Clay County (29-1), 5 p.m.
Central Hardin (31-9) vs. Louisville Ballard (27-4), 5 p.m.
THURSDAY — Lower bracket
Boyle County (26-10) vs. Estill County (20-12), 7 p.m.
Scott County (33-2) vs. Owensboro Apollo (21-9), 7 p.m.
Christian County (35-3) vs. Marshall County (28-8), 7 p.m.
Bourbon County (28-10) vs. Oldham County (36-4), 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Winners bracket quarterfinal games, 9 a.m.
Winners bracket semifinal games, 3 p.m.
Losers bracket games, 11 a.m., 1, 5 and 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Winners bracket final, 9 a.m.
Losers bracket games 9 and 11 a.m.
Championship game, 1 p.m.