Down 4-0 to Livingston Central in the 2nd Region softball championship game, defending state champion Henderson County summoned up a pair of long balls to earn another trip to Lexington.
Saniya Shields hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 4-4.
Anna Kemp ended the contest in the bottom of the bottom of the eighth inning with leadoff home run to center, giving the Lady Colonels a 5-4 victory in a battle against the two-time defending All A Classic state champion Lady Cardinals.
Kemp was also the winning pitcher in the contest, improving to 20-3 on the season with a complete-game effort Wednesday at Webster County.
The Lady Colonel senior gave up four earned runs over the first two innings and allowed five base hits in the contest. She struck out nine and walked five.
A pair of walks out of the gate helped Livingston put up a three-spot in the top of the first inning of the heavyweight battle.
Victoria Joiner scored from second on Emersyn Ramage’s bunt single. Addison Tramble came in on a wild pitch. Ramage then scored when Irelynn Burns reached on a bunt single to make it 3-0.
Joiner made it 4-0 when she homered to left in the second inning, and had No. 18-ranked Livingston Central (25-7) looking for an upset of No. 5 Henderson County (31-6).
But the Lady Colonels drew even in the bottom of the third. An error, a hit batter and a bunt single loaded the bases with no outs. Shields quickly unloaded them with a shot that cleared the fence in left-center to even the contest.
Kemp and Tramble put up zeroes from that point until the bottom of the eighth.
But Tramble’s first pitch in extra innings was greeted by the long ball by Kemp, sending Henderson home with another regional championship trophy.
Tramble allowed four earned runs on seven hits. She struck out three and walked two.
Kemp was the only Lady Colonel with multiple hits, finishing the day 2-for-4 at the plate. Shields was 1-for-4 and knocked in four.
Ayden Bennett, Maggie Grogan, Aubrey Risley and Azayah Hall each singled.
For Livingston, Ramage was 2-for-4 with an RBI while Joiner was 1-for-2 and scored twice. Burns and Baylee Neal each singled.
Henderson will play the 13th Region champion in the first round at the state tournament next Thursday, June 5. The state tourney will be played at the University of Kentucky’s John Cropp Stadium.
