The Lyon County Lady Lyons beat visiting Livingston Central 11-1 on Thursday, with senior Sophie Bingham striking-out thirteen to push her past the 1,000 mark for her career. After a loss to McCracken County in their last outing, the Lady Lyons have won nine of 10 to move to 12-8 overall, evening their 5th District record at 2-2. The Lady Cardinals slip to 1-6, 0-3 in district play.
The Lady Lyons took some time to get going, trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom of the third inning. Freshman Calista Collins tied the game with an RBI single, before Lyon County added 3 more on a 2-run error and an RBI sacrifice fly by freshman Tori Schenk.
With two outs in the top of the fifth, Bingham struck-out freshman Sydney Lasher to end the inning and reach the 1,000 strikeout milestone. She was unaware she was nearing the record, and the game was stopped briefly as Coach Jason Collins informed her of the occasion and congratulated her along with her teammates.
Bingham is only the 23rd player in state history to reach 1,000 career strikeouts, according to the KHSAA record book. The only other Second Region players to achieve 1,000 career strikeouts were Henderson County’s Stacy Whitmer (2002-06) and Union County’s Kristen Drage (2003-07).
Collins led off the Lady Lyons’ half of the fifth with a home run, before they posted 6 runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game. Freshman Rachel Coursey and Bingham each had RBI singles, freshman Sydney Melton drove-in a run with a sacrifice fly, and freshman Kerstin Craft brought-in the final 2 runs with a double.
Bingham worked six innings for the win, allowing a run on three hits with thirteen strikeouts and a walk. Sophomore Allye Culp and Craft had a hit and 2 RBI each, with Collins knocking-in 2 and collecting two hits. Bingham and Coursey had two hits and an RBI each, Schenk and Melton each drove-in a run, and freshman Kaelyn Conger had a hit.
8th Grader Madison Bolte took the loss for the Lady Cardinals, pitching 5.2 innings and allowing 11 runs, 5 earned, on nine hits with four strikeouts and four walks.
The Lady Lyons are back in action on Friday when the 12-4 Crittenden County Lady Rockets make the trip to Eddyville. The teams have split two meetings already this season, with Crittenden winning 11-1 in All A play and Lyon County getting revenge with an 8-7 road win just over a week ago.
