It looked as if it might stay scoreless all night long, but then the defending region champions came up with a big hit at just the right moment. Maggie Grogan’s bases-loaded double with two outs in the bottom of the fifth broke a 0–0 tie and propelled the Henderson County Lady Colonels to a 5-1 win over Lyon County in the 2nd Region softball semifinals Wednesday night at Lee S. Jones Park.
Henderson County also got a big boost both at the plate and in relief in the circle from Lillian Bennett to help secure the win and the berth in Thursday night’s regional championship game.
The night got off to a tough start for the Lady Lyons as senior Jaylen Tackett was injured in warmups and did not play in the game.
The game had been a full-blown pitchers’ duel until the bottom of the 5th, with neither team able to get much going. Both teams had a couple of chances early on to put a run on the board, but could not find a way to scratch out a run as Lyon County’s Ava Prow and Henderson County’s Kamryn Timmons kept shutting the door on the other team.
With two outs in the bottom of the fifth, the Lady Colonels loaded the bases on a single from Saniya Shields and a pair of walks. Maggie Grogan then drove one that hit the bottom of the fence in left field on the fly, clearing the bases and putting Henderson County in front 3-0.
After struggling to get a run across through the first five innings, the Lady Lyons broke through in the top of the sixth. Kamryn Timmons gave up a walk to lead off the inning and then a pair of two out walks to load the bases. Audrey Akridge then walked to force in a run to cut the lead to 3-1 and bring Courtney Collins to the plate.
Henderson County at that point went to the bullpen and brought in Lillian Bennett. Bennett was able to get Collins to pop up to second to end the threat and the inning with the Lady Colonels still up 3-1.
It was Bennett who then put the game away in the bottom of the sixth with a two-run homer to left with two outs that stretched the lead out to 5-1.
Bennett then closed out the game for Henderson County in the seventh to pick up the save and send the Lady Colonels to Thursday night.
The Lady Lyons were limited to just two hits for the game, a double from Audrey Akridge and a single from Courtney Collins as Timmons and Bennett did what they needed to do for Henderson County.
Ava Prow went six innings for Lyon County, giving up five runs on six hits, striking out three, and walking four.
Lyon County sees its season end at 24-16, while Henderson County improves to 26-8.
