Sunday afternoon’s 8th District softball semifinal game started off as if the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers would get at least two more games before the program marched off officially into the history books. The Lady Tigers scored 10 runs in the opening inning and took a 10-3 lead over the Fort Campbell Lady Falcons.
But then, a pitching change for the Lady Falcons completely changed the flow of the game as Fort Campbell came soaring back, outscoring Hopkinsville 19-2 the rest of the way to take a 22-12 win to advance on to the district championship game and the 2nd Region tournament, and ending the program history for the Lady Tigers.
After the big opening inning for Hopkinsville, Grace Haler came into the circle and quickly settled things down for the Lady Falcons. Haler gave up just two runs over the final five innings, on one hit, striking out eight, and walking three.
The Lady Falcons still had their issues with granting free passes to the Lady Tigers. Fort Campbell pitching had 14 hit batters and gave up seven walks. Those numbers will be hard to overcome going forward from Sunday.
The story of the day would ultimately be told in the facts that Fort Campbell had just two errors to Hopkinsville’s six, and that the Lady Falcons pounded out 17 hits to just two for the Lady Tigers.
Fort Campbell’s offense put numbers on the board in every inning, capped off with 9 runs to put the game away in the top of the sixth.
A monster game for 8th grader Hannah Haler, who finished 4-5 with a double, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Makayla Galvez was 3-5 with five RBIs and two runs scored. Tristin Caldwell ended up 1-2 with an inside-the-park home run, two RBIs, and four runs scored. Kay’lah Wilson, Peyton Hastings, Avaley Moore, and Hannah Stewart added two hits each.
For Hopkinsville, Zoey Thomas was 1-2 with two runs scored. Bailee Ladson ended up 1-1 with 3 RBIs, and she was hit three times.
Fort Campbell will now take on Christian County in the 8th District championship game, which is currently set for Tuesday night.
