[16th Region]

Thunder on a sunny dayRocky Stanley 04/13/2014 12:09 AM
Greenup County did its best to pitch to Ashland slugger McKenzie Vanover in her first three trips to the plate Saturday afternoon.
It didn’t work out so well.
Vanover, one of the state’s premier power hitters, slammed home runs in her first and third at-bats at the Ashland Softball Complex.
In between, the senior first baseman crushed a towering drive to left. The ball curled just foul despite coach Dave Miller’s best body English from the third-base coach’s box. Vanover ended up taking a walk and scoring the second of her three runs.
“Whenever I hit it, I thought it was going out fair,” said Vanover, who has four homers this season. “When I ran past first base, I heard the umpire say it was a foul ball. I thought, for real?”
By the time she came to bat for the fourth time, Greenup County had seen enough. Four consecutive wide pitches gave her a free pass. Gabby Ingram went in to run for Vanover and scored the first of the Kittens’ three runs in the fifth to close out a 14-4 victory.
“McKenzie is incredible, an incredible kid as much on the inside as talent-wise,” Miller said.
Thanks to Vanover’s booming bat and plenty of help from Greenup County, the 24th-ranked Kittens decisively avenged their only loss this spring — a 7-3 setback on opening day.
“This one kind of erased the memory about that first game,” Miller said.
Vanover got Ashland rolling Saturday by blasting a three-run shot in the first inning after Sydney Whitt walked and Katie Baldock was hit by a pitch.
“McKenzie’s doing a really good job with all pitches now,” Miller said. “She fouls off balls fighting for good pitches. She usually punishes one when she gets it.”
The Kittens broke the game open by scoring six runs in the second. Sidney Campbell’s leadoff single was the only hit of the inning. Three Greenup County errors and three more hit batters by starter Sam Mitchell opened the floodgates. Megan Hensley, Hayley Kilburn and Jordan Meade each got plunked with the bases loaded.
Brooke Johnson, the Lady Musketeers’ top pitcher, took over in the third inning and surrendered a Vanover solo shot to left-center field.
“Mac hit it off the handle,” Miller said. “She said it stung.”
Mostly, Vanover was enjoying the opportunity to swing the bat on a beautiful day.
“It was our first game in four days,” she said. “I felt loose for once because of the weather. Before, I had to stretch before every at-bat. Today I could just come up and hit like I know how.”
The Kittens’ fun started prior to the game, when Whitt signed a letter of intent in front of the ballpark to play for Miller next season at Kentucky Christian University. She will be joining Vanover, who already signed with the Lady Knights.
“I’m so excited, I can’t even tell you,” Miller said. “Less than a year ago, we didn’t know if Sydney (knee surgery) would be back in a softball uniform. She’s playing well again, and now has four more years to look forward to. She’s a tremendous talent who is going to escalate what we want to do at KCU.”
Whitt, a catalyst from the leadoff spot, doubled home Meade in the fourth to give Ashland an 11-4 lead. Whitt reached safely three of her four trips and scored a run in each of the first two innings.
Campbell singled twice for the Kittens, who collected only six hits but benefited greatly from Greenup County’s five errors, five hit batters and five walks.
The Lady Musketeers (7-6) were missing two starters Saturday and dropped two games on the heels of a 12-2 win over Ironton on Friday night.
Freshman Megan Murphy pitched three innings to pick up the win for Ashland. She allowed four runs, including Morgan Parks’s bases-loaded triple that skipped past Ashland’s right fielder.
Megan Hensley took over in the circle to start the fourth and struck out all six batters she faced.
Hensley carried that momentum over to the late afternoon, pitching a complete game with nine strikeouts and no walks to beat tough Lincoln County from West Virginia, 5-1.
Lincoln County scored its lone run in the first, but continued put the unbeaten Hensley to the test with eight hits. Her only one-two-three inning came in the seventh. She threw 124 pitches.
Ashland, 9-1 and riding an eight-game winning streak, took the lead with a four-run third inning. Baldock, Vanover and Hensley each singled to load the bases. Kilburn and Meade drew walks to force in runs.
Megan Griffith added an RBI double in the fourth to make it 5-1.

GREENUP CO. 013 00 — 4 4 5
ASHLAND 361 13 — 14 6 2
Mitchell, Johnson (3) and Adkins; Murphy, Hensley (4) and Campbell. W—Murphy. L—Mitchell. 2B—Whitt (A). 3B—Parks (GC). HR—Vanover 2 (A).

LINCOLN CO. 100 000 0 — 1 8 3
ASHLAND 004 100 x — 5 6 1
West, Huffman (5) and Isaacs; Hensley and Campbell. W—Hensley. L—West. 2B—West 2 (LC), McKay (LC), Griffith (A).

Lawrence Co. 9
Greenup Co. 0
Samantha Fitzpatrick stole the show in the morning contest.
The senior left-hander pitched a three-hitter and drove in five runs as the Lady Bulldogs made amends for a 2-1 loss at the start of the season.
Fitzpatrick walloped a three-run homer to center field after Lawrence County put two runners aboard in the first inning.
“We needed that,” Lawrence County coach Kenny Horn said. “It’s her first home run. She hit eight last year.”
Fitzpatrick also closed out the scoring with a two-run single in the fifth, following Hali Young’s RBI double.
Young, a junior, doubled twice in a 10-hit attack. Haleigh Peck also had a double.
“We show up sometimes, and sometimes we don’t,” Horn said. “Today we showed up. We had focus in the dugout and a lot of energy.”
The win improved the young Lady Bulldogs’ record to 6-9 against what Horn called the “toughest schedule I’ve ever made.”

GREENUP CO. 000 000 0 — 0 3 4
LAWRENCE CO. 330 030 x — 9 10 0
Johnson and Howard; Fitzpatrick and Marcum. W—Fitzpatrick. L—Johnson. 2B—Young 2 (LC), Peck (LC). HR—Fitzpatrick (LC).

A couple good wins for the Kiitens!