Lady Maroons win 5th straight in 10-1 rout of West Jessamine

By QUINCY ALEXANDER, CJ Sports Writer
Commonwealth Journal

Somerset May 06, 2008 11:53 pm

— With an intra-county match-up looming it would seem that the Pulaski County Lady Maroons might look past the visiting Lady Colts of West Jessamine.
Nothing would be further from the truth at Pulaski County High School last night as an efficient pitching performance from eighth-grade sensation Brittany McKee helped lead the Lady Maroons to a convincing 10-1 victory over the Lady Colts.
A five-run first inning also played a major part in the Lady Maroons 12th Region win and that was exactly the game plan of Pulaski Head Coach Scott Taylor.
“We knew it was going to be important to score first,” said the Lady Maroon skipper. “We knew we were going to play a good ball team and a couple of runs early would give us momentum – five runs was a plus.”
An error and a walk put the first two batters on base for Pulaski (19-8) and Jessica Randolph lifted a 2RBI double to the gap in right-center field. Lindsey Stephens (3-for-4 on the night) followed with a double of her own to trade places with Randolph .
Katie Buxton subsequently plated Stephens with a double of her own. A single by McKee put Buxton 60 feet away – a double steal later made the score 5-0 Pulaski. An unassisted double play by Rachel Birch got the Lady Colts out of the inning.
West Jessamine (10-14) couldn’t get their offense going against McKee as the Lady Maroon ace only allowed three hits and one run. McKee kept her pitch count low as she only hit double digits twice with 14 pitches in the fourth and 16 pitches in the sixth. McKee threw a total of 61 pitches in seven innings of work and only issued one walk while striking out a pair of Lady Colts.
“She did what we have been trying to get her to do,” added the Pulaski Head Coach. “We want her to throw strikes and let her defense do the work behind her – she did that tonight.”
The second, third and fourth frames saw hard hits from the Lady Maroons, but right at West Jessamine defenders. The Lady Colts posted their lone run in the fourth frame.
Going into the home-half of the fifth stanza the Pulaski lead stood at 5-1 and K.K. Holman got things started with a lead-off single. Morgan Pike earned a walk to put a pair of Lady Maroons on the bases with Randolph stepping to the plate.
The first two pitches were on the inside part of the plate and Randolph was ready for the 0-2 pitch, that hung to the outside of the dish, as she sent the ball over the right field fence for a two-run home run as well as her fifth RBI of the evening.
“I won’t say she’s been slumping lately,” Coach Taylor explained. “She hasn’t been hitting to her potential and she has been pressing a little bit over the last week or so – she looked a whole lot more relaxed and more confident at the plate tonight.”
A double by Stephens, the two-bagger of her three on the night, followed the bomb by Randolph (2-for-4 with a double and a home run). McKee reached after being hit by a pitch. An RBI single by Kristin Dowell and another by Kendra Hyden, via a nice slap-hit, put what would become the final runs on the board for the evening giving the Lady Maroons a 10-1 lead. Two outs at the plate would later end the fifth stanza.
The nine-run gap held up over the next two innings as West Jessamine would get a pair of base runners in the sixth stanza, but to no avail as the Pulaski defense buckled down after their lone error and walk of the night.
So, there was no looking past the Lady Colts as Pulaski picked up their 16th win against 12th Region competition, including five in-a-row, and the Lady Maroons remain third in the Region standings behind their next opponent - cross-town rivals, the Southwestern Lady Warriors.
“It is always such a fun, intense game with them,” Coach Taylor pointed out. “Everybody knows everybody. They have the bragging rights right now after beating us at their place. Thursday night we will have the chance to get those rights for ourselves. The great thing about it is that it is friendly competition between two teams with a lot of talent. It just goes to show, along with Somerset , what level of softball is played in this county.”
The Pulaski coach went on to say that the focus of the next few weeks is on the win-or-go-home, District tourney game with Casey County and that the final seven games of the season that prelude the District Tournament opener for the Lady Maroons will be to fine tune his squad for a post-season run.
Pulaski will host Southwestern as they square off Thursday night at 5:30pm and the Lady Maroons have scheduled their senior night for Friday May 16th at 6pm against Williamsburg .

WJ – 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 – 1 3 2 – LP Geary 1.1IP 5ER 4H BB
PC – 5 0 0 0 5 0 x – 10 11 1 – WP McKee CG ER 3H BB 2K

HR – Randolph. 2B – Stephens 3, Randolph, Buxton. 1B – Holman, McKee, Dowell, Hyden. RBI – Randolph 5, Stephens, Buxton, Dowell, Hyden.

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