A late-inning surge on Tuesday helped the University Heights Academy softball team earn a season sweep over visiting Dawson Springs with a hard-fought 19-15 victory. The teams have a history of big scoring nights when they meet up, including 27 combined runs earlier this season and a 42-run game in 2021.
After allowing Dawson Springs to push across three runs in the top of the first, the Lady Blazers answered with eight in the bottom of the frame, capped by Madison Williams’ two-run single.
Each team posted four runs over the next two innings before the Lady Panthers used RBI singles by Sophia Johnson and Kara McKnight, and a pair of bases-loaded walks, to plate five runs and tie the game at 12-12 in the middle of the fourth.
UHA responded with three runs over its next two at-bats, including an RBI single by Emily Dilday, but Dawson Springs again knotted the game on run-scoring singles by Blanchard and Kalyn Cotton in the top of the sixth.
The Lady Blazers opened their half of the sixth with a walk and a Katherine Wood single before Olivia Oakley drove in the go-ahead run with a single. Williams capped a two-hit, four-RBI night with a single to push a run across, and Dilday grounded out to bring in Williams for the final margin.
Wood earned the win in the circle, allowing 12 runs, 10 earned, on six hits with 11 strikeouts and 10 walks over seven innings. The Lady Blazers improved to 4-5 ahead of a trip to Hopkins County Central on Monday.
Dilday finished with two hits and three RBI, Wood collected two hits and drove in two runs, and Ann Hampton added two RBI.
Dawson Springs slipped to 0-13, with Blanchard taking the loss after allowing eight runs, five earned, on six hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Blanchard led the way at the plate for the Lady Panthers with three hits and four RBI, and Cotton drove in two runs.
