OWENSBORO — After dropping a 2-1 decision to East Carter back on May 18 in the Manual Softball Showcase at the University of Louisville, Warren East flipped the script against the Region 16 powerhouse on Friday morning.
Less than a month following their one-run loss in nine innings, the Lady Raiders earned a hard-fought 2-1 win of their own in the second meeting of the season against East Carter — this victory coming in the winner’s bracket quarterfinals of the Owensboro Health/KHSAA State Softball Tournament at Jack C. Fisher Park.
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Warren East (30-4) — which handed East Carter (38-1) its first loss of the year — scored both of its runs on RBI sacrifice bunts in the top of the first inning and were able to hold off ECHS from there.
East Carter threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning with back-to-back one-out singles, but Lady Raiders’ pitcher Katie Gardner threw a strikeout and forced a pop up to strand the pair of runners and keep WEHS in the winner’s bracket.
Gardner — the junior that is currently committed to the University of Tennessee at Martin — finished with eight strikeouts while allowing one run on three hits in a complete-game outing to earn the win.
As a team, Warren East finished with four hits from four different players.
With their win, the Lady Raiders will now meet Region 5 champion Central Hardin (32-9) in the winner’s bracket semifinals. That game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. but could be delayed due to heat index delays.
Should Warren East win against CHHS, it’ll advance to play the Scott County-Christian County winner at 9 a.m. Saturday in the winner’s bracket final. Should the Lady Raiders lose, they’ll play at 7 p.m. Friday night in the consolation bracket quarterfinals.
WEHS – 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 2 4 0
ECHS – 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 1 3 1
WP: Gardner. LP: Fouts.
–Senior writer Tyler Mansfield can be reached at mansfield.sportingtimes@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @TMansfieldST.–
