Kirk’s heroics give Lady Cats district title

Her hit to right field sealed the win, but head coach Ally Vaughn initially wanted Kirk to “suicide bunt” with MaGruder in scoring position. After a moment of hesitation, Vaughn gave Kirk one free-reign pitch before making the suicide bunt call.

“And she did what she wanted with that one pitch,” Vaughn said. “I was so happy because she deserved that. I knew it was coming at some point today but that was the perfect moment for it.”

Henry County, who hasn’t lost a district game since 2018, started out slow in part because of the slower pitching speeds. In a sharp contrast from the Lady Cats’ blistering offensive performance on Monday against Carroll County, the pitching from the Lady Raiders kept the Lady Cats to one hit in the first three innings.

The top of Henry County’s lineup had solid looks in the first inning but each popped out or lined out.

Macey McManis recorded the Lady Cats’ first hit with a single along the left field line, but she was stranded following a strikeout for the Lady Raiders.

Yet, the Lady Cats contained Trimble County through the first two innings as well, including a three up, three down second frame with two strikeouts for Sophia Lay.

The Lady Raiders took the lead in the third inning on an RBI single by Jaelynn Holbrook down the right field line. Trimble County earned three walks prior to the hit, but one runner was tagged out at second during a bunt out from Alana Washington.

Lay struck out her final batter to halt the brief burst of offensive momentum, but Trimble County picked it back up in the fourth inning. Maddie Nixon sent a hit deep into center field, but Aaliyah Wilson stretched out to complete the catch. However, Hannah Chilton was able to come across home while Wilson gathered the catch and got to her feet to push the lead to 2-0.

Henry County seemed to settle into the pitching style in the fourth inning. MaGruder hit a single to center field and Kirk sent a pitch to the center and right field gap past a diving Lady Raider for a single. Yet, the Lady Cats flied out to leave two on base and keep the score at 2-0.

In the fifth inning, Henry County swung the momentum to its side and evened the game at two all. Both Kennadie Hamby and Lizzy Hansen had RBI doubles on back-to-back plays to bring in a runner each and put the Lady Cats back in the game.

The rejuvenated Henry County squad retired the Trimble County side in order in the sixth and seventh innings. On offense, the Lady Cats walked two in the sixth but left both on base. In the seventh, Hamby led off with a single to center field, and following two outs on hit attempts, the Lady Raiders caught Hamby stealing second to send the game to extra innings.

Following a pop out to third, Henry County intentionally walked Emma Ginn, the 31st District Player of the Year. Ginn barely beat the tag at third on a bunt on the next play to move into scoring position, but Lay struck out her next batter to keep her at third.

The Lady Cats got the bats going at the right time, leading off the bottom of the eighth with a double by MaGruder to the fence line. Kennedy Brown followed with a single to the edge of the infield on the right side, which allowed MaGruder to advance to third.

Kirk stepped up with her game-winning hit to send MaGruder home on the next play to cap off a dramatic championship game.

“Game started out slow… Then we kind of got down on ourselves and we finally started to realize that we get another at bat and we’ll get another at bat but we just got to make a change,” said Vaughn. “(The) key for us to hang in there and stick this one out was make an adjustment and believe in it.”

For her efforts, Kirk was named tournament MVP. Hansen, MaGruder, Wilson and Lay were also named to the All-Tournament team for their performances.

The season continues for the Lady Cats in the Eighth Region tournament, which is set to begin May 21.

“Goal now is just to play every game like it’s our last and give it all we got. If we do that, we’re gonna have a good shot,” said Vaughn.