Henderson County will open the defense of its state softball championship with the first game of the Second Region Tournament on Monday at Webster County.
The Lady Colonels (28-6) will play 8th District runner-up University Heights Academy (5-9) in the 11 am opener. It’s the second straight season they have met in the first round.
Henderson County has won 14 straight games against region teams dating back to last year and defeated the Lady Blazers 17-0 last year.
UHA is making consecutive region tournament trips for the first time in a decade and will be looking for the program’s first region tourney win in 11 appearances.
At 1:00, 5th District champion Trigg County (22-13) will play 7th District runner-up Madisonville (23-10).
The teams split during the regular season with Trigg winning 4-3 in 10 innings on March 17 and the Lady Maroons taking a 3-0 win in May 15.
Trigg County is coming off its first fast-pitch district championship on Friday and won the program’s first region tournament game last year.
Madisonville saw its streak of 10 straight region-opening wins end last year with a loss to Union County. They had won 13 of 15 games before losing to Caldwell County in the 7th District championship.
At 3:00, Caldwell County (16-14) will face 6th District runner-up Union County (19-15) in a matchup of the last two region runners-up.
The Lady Tigers ended a 23-year district championship drought when they defeated Madisonville and will be looking to get back to the region championship game, where they lost to Henderson County in 2023.
Union County outslugged Caldwell 9-8 back on March 21 and made a run to last year’s region championship game.
At 5:00, Christian County (22-13) will square off against 5th District runner-up Livingston Central (23-6).
The Lady Colonels won their 20th straight district title this week and will be looking to reverse a recent trend that has seen them drop three of their last four region openers. Included in that was a trip to the 2023 championship game.
Livingston Central won the All A Classic state championship for a second straight time in April, but have went just 4-3 since as they have battled the injury bug.
The teams did not meet during the regular season, but Livingston did beat the Lady Colonels 4-1 last year. The schools have split their last 10 meetings dating back to 2013.
The semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday at 6:00 and 8:00 with a Wednesday championship game at 6:00.
