By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
After nearly getting upset in last week’s state quarterfinals, South Warren’s top-ranked softball team regained its swagger with a 10-0 win over Highlands in a five-inning state semifinal game on Friday at the University of Kentucky’s John Cropp Stadium.
The Spartans extended their perfect record to 44-0 and added Highlands to the long list of opponents they have defeated by 10 runs or more this season. They’ll face Bullitt East (32-4) in the state championship game at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Highlands (35-7) had won 19 straight games and became the first 9th Region team to reach the final four since the state tournament adopted a single-elimination format in 2019.
But the Bluebirds were no match for the torrid hitting South Warren team that came in averaging 12.7 runs per game.
The Spartans needed a two-run homer in the eighth inning to get past Madison Central, 4-3, in last week’s quarterfinals. On Friday, they took a 2-0 lead on solo home runs by seniors McLaine Hudson and Layla Ogden in the first inning.
Highlands senior pitcher Kaitlyn Dixon got strikeouts against the three batters she faced in the second inning. But Hudson, who was named Miss Kentucky Softball, jacked another ball over the fence in the third inning when her team expanded its lead to 4-0. South Warren now has 72 home runs in 44 games this season.
Highlands got its only two hits off winning pitcher Courtney Norwood in the bottom of the third, but both runners were stranded. South Warren then took a 7-0 lead in the top of the fourth when the Bluebirds made three errors.
In the fifth inning, the Spartans scored three runs with two outs to make it 10-0. Ogden then took over the pitching duties and retired three Highlands batters on ground outs to end the game.
The loss ended the careers of four Highlands senior starters — Dixon, Payton Brown, Cam Markus and Morgan Pompilio — who started playing on the varsity team when they were in the seventh and eighth grade.
Dixon set team career records in pitching victories and total strikeouts. Brown is the Bluebirds’ all-time leader in total hits, doubles, triples and home runs.
With those four players in the lineup, Highlands made it to the 9th Region final five consecutive years and won four titles. The team’s overall record during that five-year span was 144-51-1 for a 73.4 winning percentage under head coach Milt Horner.
The Bluebirds posted a best-ever 35 wins this season. Dixon and Markus were the two seniors named to the state all-tournament team.
SOUTH WARREN 202 33 — 10 10 0
HIGHLANDS 000 00 — 0 2 3
WP — Courtney Norwood (6 Ks). LP — Kaitlyn Dixon (7 Ks).
HITTING LEADERS: SW — McLaine Hudson 3-3, 2 HR, 2 RBI; Hadley Borders 3-4, 2 RBI; Layla Ogden HR, Kinleigh Russell 2B, Parker Willoughby 3 RBI. H — Payton Brown 1B, Layla Zepf 1B. RECORDS: South Warren 44-0, Highlands 35-7.