Daviess County won their 5th consecutive Regional Championship after a 5-0 shutout against Hancock County. Kamrynn Timmons returned to the mound for the Lady Panthers and led the defense with 12 strikeouts to help keep Hancock scoreless. Daviess County and Owensboro Catholic both had players named to All–Tournament Team. The Owensboro-area players who made the team included:
- Kamrynn Timmons- Daviess County
- Annie Newman- Daviess County
- Callie Smith- Daviess County
- Maren Riney- Owensboro Catholic
- Molly Hancock- Daviess County
The game started out evenly as Hancock held Daviess County scoreless for the first two innings, and Timmons had 3 strikeouts to help keep the score stagnant on Hancock’s side. Timmons taking the mound for the second day in a row is something that isn’t normally done, but DCHS head coach John Biggs said she was the best fit for the matchup, and she was up for the challenge. After throwing 143 pitches in the semifinal game, Timmons took to the mound again and recorded 12 total strikeouts in 99 pitches. Despite not being 100%, Biggs said she was very efficient on the mound during the championship game.
“She’s a great kid and a great talent,” he said. “Her potential and her ceiling are really high. We felt like her in the circle tonight was going to be the best matchup for us against Hancock. The only thing is that none of our pitchers have really gone back-to-back. She threw 143 pitches last night, so we talked to her before the game when we met at the field to see how she felt. She said she was good to go, so we thought we’d give it a whirl. She may not have been as sharp as she was last night, but I thought she was very efficient with her pitches and getting ahead in the count to make them chase.”
The Lady Panthers broke through in the third inning, and Kylie Cark kicked things off by reaching first on an error on a ground ball. After a fly out put one out on the board, Shelby Bennet singled to left field to put two on base. Annie Newman then opened the scoring with an RBI single to bring Clark home.
The fourth inning saw both defenses hold one another scoreless, but DC added to their lead in the fifth. Sadie Morris hit a lead-off bunt, and Bennet hit a sacrifice bunt on the next AB to move Morris to third. Newman continued to make plays at the plate as she hit a sacrifice fly that scored Morris. The sixth inning began with another Timmons strikeout before Hancock hit a double out to right field. The danger was subdued by another strikeout and a line out to go into the bottom of the inning.
Newman’s performances at the plate have been a driving force for the entirety of the tournament. Across three games she has recorded 4 RBIs and 4 hits across the last 3 games. Biggs said that Newman is patient at the plate, and he can usually rely on her to consistently put the ball into play once the lineup has gone through once or twice. Players such as Smith also have had an impact as she hit the game-winning RBI in the semifinal game against Meade County. With hitters like these up and down the lineup, Biggs said that the team can easily relax as more runs start to hit the board.
“Annie’s patient and sees the ball really well,” he said. “Sometimes she gets impatient, and I think she’s struck out I think 4 times all year, so she’s going to put the ball in play. It’s one of those recurring things that the second time, third time through the lineup and we see a pitch, we can really start putting the ball into play. We had Callie Smith hit the ball well for us, and the bunt for us by Danielle Beckwith was key. You’re sitting there with just 1 run for a while, but when you get that second run things kind of change just a little bit. Obviously when we get a couple more there, we relax a bit. Not every play could be a game-determining play.”
Molly Hancock led off to start DC’s AB, and she was walked to first. Danielle Beckwith had a key bunt that found its way into a gap in the infield to move her to first and Hancock to third. Briley Henry grounded out on the next AB, but her hit allowed Hancock to cross home plate for a 3-0 scoreline. A strikeout put two outs up, but Clark kept the inning alive with a fly ball that bounced out of the left fielder’s glove. Beckwith scored thanks to the error to put the score at 4-0.
Hancock got another runner on base in the sixth, but Timmons shut them down quickly with 3 straight strikeouts. With Daviess County at the plate, Hancock got two quick outs. Smith came up big again at the plate with a triple that nearly cleared the back fence in right field. Smith then managed to score at home off a wild pitch for the Lady Panthers’ final run of the game.
With this victory the Lady Panthers clinched their 5th consecutive Regional Championship. They will also be going to Lexington for the State Tournament for the fifth year in a row. Daviess County will play their first round of the State Tournament on June 6 against Region 12 Champions Mercer County (18-9).
Every team is different from the previous year’s team, and Biggs said that this young group has been doing nothing but gaining experience for the high-pressure situations that the postseason holds. DC’s tough schedule was tailored to help put the girls in the best possible position come tournament time, he said.
“All of these kids have been in the program for a while,” he said. “They may not have had the varsity experience, but they’ve been in the program for a while. They know our process, our standard and how we do things. It’s kind of that next person up mentality. The key with this group was getting them to gain experience in high pressure situations. That’s why we played the schedule that we played. We played against some top teams and some really good pitchers to prepare them for that. Yea we want to win some games in the regular season, but that’s all about getting ready for the postseason.”
