It was a good day for Pickle Winkler and her Christian County Lady Colonel teammates.
Winkler went 4-for-4 with a home run and established two team records, and the Lady Colonels advanced to the 2nd Region championship game with a 9-6 win over Caldwell County in Saturday’s semifinals in Henderson.
Christian County (27-9) will take on host Henderson County (31-2) for a berth in the KHSAA state tournament in Lexington on Monday afternoon at 1:00.
Winkler, a senior, scored four times and stole two bases in the semifinal triumph over Caldwell. In the process, she broke her own single-season school record for stolen bases and also set the single-season mark for runs. She tied the school mark for career runs scored.
The Lady Colonels needed Winkler’s big game to help turn back upstart Caldwell County (16-13), which edged ahead 3-2 in the top of the third inning. Laney Jones put the Lady Tigers in front with an RBI groundout to second.
But Caldwell could not hold the lead for very long.
Christian responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good. Winkler started the rally with a leadoff bunt single. Avery Adcock later singled home Winkler to tie the game. Gracie Harned added a two-run single to center to put the Lady Colonels back in front 5-3.
Christian tacked on two more runs in the fourth to make it 7-3. Winkler homered to right for the first run, then a wild pitch later allowed another run to come in.
The Lady Colonels scored twice with two outs in the sixth to extend the margin to 9-3. Winkler again singled to start things. She stolen second, then scored when Riley Hancock reached on an error. Karlee Crick added an RBI single to center to make it a six-run ballgame.
The extra cushion came in handy in the top of the seventh inning, when Caldwell scored three times to try to make things interesting. Alicia Stanley doubled in a run while Adley Lewis picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly to right. Presley McKinney drove in a run with a single to right to right to make it 9-6.
However, Hancock, the Christian pitcher, got the next batter to ground out to first to end the contest.
Hancock was the winner in the circle, allowing six earned runs on eight base hits. She struck out four and walked four.
Illysa Stallins suffered the loss for Caldwell. She gave up just four earned runs on 11 base hits without a walk or a strikeout. But four Lady Tiger errors were costly.
Stanley finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles, two runs batted in and three runs scored. McKinney was 2-for-3.
For Christian, Adcock and Crick were each 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The Lady Colonels have taken four straight from Caldwell and now lead the all-time series 19-10.
Christian will carry a six-game winning streak into the regional final against Henderson, which has won its last four games and 17 of its last 18.
The teams did not meet during the regular season.
