:wideyed: When was the last time a team from Boone Co. was not in the 9th Region Finals?

 

The Birds shock the 9th Region, and take down the Lady Rebels 6-3 in the 9th Region Semi's. Bailey Spencer, who had emergency appendectomy surgery just a week ago, is in the circle and goes the distance for the win.

 

Highlands "D" was superb, and the Birds, Brennah Dutcher, with the "big stick" tonight, she hit a double HARD off the left-center fence and then put the game on ice with a "towering" drive over the right-center fence for a 2-run dong.

 

Boone Co.'s Sydney Foster with another solid game at the plate. :thumb:

An out of the park home run must be rare there. Nice.

An out of the park home run must be rare there. Nice.

 

When it left the bat, the question was....how far was it going to clear the fence. Pretty impressive shot.

Like I said before the tourney started the only 3 teams with a chance to win it are....

 

Hold up. Highlands won?

Highlands could beat Notre Dame they are playing well. Pandas only neat them 5-3 at home in April

:wideyed: When was the last time a team from Boone Co. was not in the 9th Region Finals?

 

The Birds shock the 9th Region, and take down the Lady Rebels 6-3 in the 9th Region Semi's. Bailey Spencer, who had emergency appendectomy surgery just a week ago, is in the circle and goes the distance for the win.

 

Highlands "D" was superb, and the Birds, Brennah Dutcher, with the "big stick" tonight, she hit a double HARD off the left-center fence and then put the game on ice with a "towering" drive over the right-center fence for a 2-run dong.

 

Boone Co.'s Sydney Foster with another solid game at the plate. :thumb:

 

 

Congrats to the Lady Birds! They began the game with more enthusiasm and played with more resolve. It just appeared as if they wanted it more. It was a gutsy performance by Spencer and you can go an entire season without seeing two bombs hit as hard as Dutcher's! The top of Boone's lineup continued to struggle going just 1 for 14 in the game. Sydney Foster did have a good tournament. Of the 14 runs Boone scored, she drove in seven and scored three.

Brennah Dutcher hit two shots in this game and may be the best clutch hitter in the region ...... What ? about 50 RBI ....... Not sure what anyone else was thinking but I'll give her some " honorable-mention" :clap:

Great game for the Birds again. Awesome D again... Great base running and the sticks are back... Starting to seem like a broken record... Hope it keeps sticking... Bailey gave the Birds another nice job from the circle to back up Miranda's awesome performance last night. Graybill had an awesome day behind the dish and blocked quite a few in the dirt. I was pretty impressed with the number 1 from Boone. I understand she had some pretty major surgery but she did a nice job with the bat the last two games... 3 for 3 against Dixie with 4 ribs and had a nice single in the seventh tonight... Boone didn't play terribly just Bailey and the D put out some threats.

By G. MICHAEL GRAHAM

Fort Thomas Matters Sports Reporter

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS – The objective changed from taking care of the underdog to making history.

This marked the third appearance in the 9th Region semifinals for the Highlands Ladybirds fastpitch softball program. But in its 14-year history, Highlands had yet to advance past the 9th Region semifinals.

The Ladybirds took care of that Tuesday at Northern Kentucky University with a 6-3 victory over the Boone County Lady Rebels. Highlands (25-11) added on to its school records for the most wins in program history and 17-game winning streak. The Lady Rebels (21-8) beat the Ladybirds twice during the regular season.

“Since we had our talk about halfway through the season, they turned their season around and focused on what they can do,” said Rob Coffey, Highlands Head Coach. “They believe and trust in their skills. It is completely showing. I’ll put our defense out there with anybody. They have been phenomenal.”

Highlands takes on defending region champion Notre Dame (28-5) on Thursday for the region title. Game time is 5:30 p.m. back at NKU. The Pandas beat the Ladybirds, 5-3 on April 16. This marks the first time a team from Boone County will not be playing in the region finals since 2000.

The big story of the game was the return of sophomore pitcher Bailey Spencer just nine days after doctors performed emergency Appendix surgery on her. Spencer walked just one and allowed just seven hits. Spencer left runners in scoring position in the first, second, fourth and seventh innings. She retired nine in a row at one point.

“I want to be out here with my team,” Spencer said. “Around Saturday, it stopped hurting. I threw over the weekend to see how it felt. We are here to win and we will take it from anyone. (Coach Coffey) said to come back whenever I feel like it. Having such a good defense helped so much.”

Spencer outdualed Boone County pitcher Dallis Knotts. Knotts struck out six and walked just one.

“I’m happy for (Spencer) and I’m happy for the team,” Coffey said. “Miranda (Mason) did a tremendous job holding down the fort. I couldn’t have asked for anything more out of an eighth-grade pitcher. But Bailey is our ace. She’s a competitor. It was not just good for her, but for the team for her to lift us over the top.”

The Highlands defense had some mistakes in the second inning. But the Lady Rebels scored just one run off those two Ladybird errors.

Highlands outhit Boone County, 10-7. Whitney Quillen led the way going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. Teammate Brennah Dutcher came through also going 3-for-3 with four runs batted in, a home run, double and a run scored. She fell a triple short of hitting for the cycle.

“I couldn’t count on my hands how many times (Dutcher) has done that (come up with big hits) during the 17-game winning streak,” Coffey said. “She has done everything for us at the plate. She’s really starting to make a name for herself.”

The game started off well for Highlands. Quillen singled and Haley Coffey bunted her to second before Shelby Graybill singled her home. Graybill went 1-for-2 reaching base all four times before Taylor Baioni ran for her. She had two RBI.

Boone County came back and tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the second. Madison Graham doubled, reached third when Haley Delaney singled and scored on a Highlands error.

But the Ladybirds came back to score three in the third to go up 4-1. Quillen led off with a single and moved to second when Haley Coffey grounded out. She stole third then scored when Graybill hit a ground ball to second and Quillen beat the throw home. Kendall Turner then singled Baioni to third and advanced to second on the throw. That’s when Dutcher singled them home and took second on a Boone County error.

The Lady Rebels came back with two in the fourth to trim the margin to 4-3. Olivia Jackson singled with one out and took second when Graham grounded out before moving to third when Delaney singled. Sydney Foster then doubled Jackson and pitnch runner Starr Smith home.

Boone County did not threaten again until the seventh inning with two out. Makenna Black and Knotts singled before Spencer got Ryley Grau to ground out back to the mound.

The Ladybirds added insurance runs in the fifth to make the final score. Knotts hit Graybill with a pitch and Haley Coffey bunted Baioni to second. After Ashley Grosser grounded out, Dutcher cranked one over the center field wall.

“(Knotts) is such a good pitcher. She works the corners,” Dutcher said. “I used that to my advantage knowing it was coming. I knew it was going to go somewhere. I just put it in play.”

Highlands lost 3-0 to the Pandas on the semifinals last year. The Ladybirds are 43-23 since Coach Coffey took over the program in the fall of 2012.

 

FORT THOMAS MATTERS: Ladybirds make history with 25th win of year

Congrats to Rob & the girls on a great win. Had to be a big lift for the team to get Spencer back for this one and she did exactly what her team needed her to do to get the win congrats to Bailey

Wow. One week out of surgery. Way to gut it out Bailey.

Well done Birds!

Great job, Birds! Keep it up!

Congrats to the LadyBirds. Love it! I said a few weeks ago after watching them play that if they continue to play the Defense they have been playing recently, they will be a tough out. Regardless of who's pitching..... Other than a few 2nd inning mental errors they were pretty much flawless last night. Each girl knows her job and their responsibility and it's evident that they are very well coached. Love how they are playing with a Chip on their shoulders.