The Taylor County Lady Cardinals softball team was in trouble.
They were down to their last out and trailing 2-1 in the 5th Region Championship game in Elizabethtown high school to North Hardin and their strikeout artist Brooklyn Carmickle, who was throwing heat all afternoon. This was a familar situation for the Lady Cardinals, who have in the past been a consistent winner in the 5th Region, but have never taken that big step to be recognized as one of the perennial state Contenders. It seemed like every season they would make their annual trip to the Regionals with high hopes and then have them cruelly crushed by a Central Hardin, Bethlehem or recently by Elizabethtown.
Still, since 2020 (when all high school action ceased for one Spring), the Lady Cardinals when from 16-wins to 18-wins to 23-wins and then 25-wins last season under coach David Bradstreet and they had continued to impress with their defensive style of play, but once again sometimes Great just isn’t good enough. Now, with two outs and the tying runner on second, Riley Sprowles stood at the plate looking to be the final out. Or so they thought. Sprowles, who had just graduated a couple days ago and had a dream senior year as the girls basketball team made history with a trip to the KHSAA State Tournament advancing to the Elite Eight before losing to Frederick Douglas as their comeback bid fell short was having none of that. After working the count to 1-1, she blooped what looked to be a Texas Leaguer that somehow resulted in an error at short. With the pinch runner Shelby Clayton on the run on contact, the game suddenly and unbelievably was tied. With the adrenaline really flowing from the Taylor County dugout, up stepped Adelyn Bradstreet, who took ball one, then swing away looping a Popfly that resulted in another error at second base. In a full gallop again on contact, Sprowles scored easily as Taylor County won in the most unbelievable fashion possible.
The Lady Cardinals went from death row to a reprieve in the most dramatic fashion as the Lady Cardinals celebrated their first EVER 5th Region Championship in fastpitch and a trip to Lexington for the State Tourney, the Lady Trojans trotted off the field in disbelief as they still couldn’t believe what just happened.
Taylor County, which trailed the entire game after North Hardin took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on T K Davis two-run single slowly but surely stayed close as pitcher as Maddie Hunt, who had pitched the previous afternoon in the Lady Cardinals semi-final win over Bethlehem settled down afterwards and her defense kept coming up with big plays turning two double plays. However, Taylor County was getting nothing from pitcher Carmickle, who allowed only one hit (she allowed just two hits during the entire region tourney) and three walks, but what was the difference were the fielding errors by the Lady Trojans. All three Lady Cardinal runs were unearned and the result of miscues. Strangely, this year’s version of the North Hardin softball team had a total makeover as pitching and defense had really carried this team and they were truly the surprise of the Region Tournament as they went from just 4-wins, to 13-wins to 24-wins after coach Rocky Addesa in just his second full season and his coaching staff effected a quick cultural change as they went from a team that committed multiple errors to one that erased those bad habits.
Still, in the big games, when you are in the elimination bracket, little things mean more. For some, the Taylor County comeback was just as much a result of things evening out as taking advantage of every situation. “We always told our girls you play till the final out and they did.” said coach David Bradstreet. He gave praise to the girls who found a way to win in such a dire situation and the fact that they like so many teams at this stage of the season fought through injuries like senior Briley Edwards, who went Monday against Green County in a shutout win. For Overstreet, everything fell into place as the team keep finding ways to win whether it was a home run in game one or the shutout defense that committed just one error in three regional games.
For North Hardin, it was a crushing defeat. Just one play away from their first State Tournament since 2009 and they had it cruelly snatched away. Still, this is a very young team with an average age of 15-16 and everyone returning other than third base next season. With the battery of Carmickle and Addison Vinton for the next several years, there should be plenty of more opportunities for Big Blue.
As for Taylor County, next Friday will began a new chapter for the softball team as they will face Letcher County Central at 5:30 at John Cropp Stadium in the KHSAA state tournament.
Hopefully, they won’t need any more miraculous finishes like they did yesterday, but if they do, I’m sure Bradstreet has a little more luck in that rabbits foot the team must be carrying around.