Millie Roberts launched a three-run bomb over the left field fence and helped Daviess County pick up a 6-4 win at home over Owensboro Catholic in Tuesday’s 9th District softball action.
With runners at the corners and two outs in the bottom of the second inning, Roberts turned on a changeup to give the Lady Panthers (11-9, 2-1 9th District) a 4-2 lead that they never relinquished. The first run came on an RBI triple by Emily Stanley.
It’s the fourth homer of the season for Roberts, who also had an RBI double to finish the day 2-for-2 with four RBIs. Daviess County head coach John Biggs said he’s told Roberts to stay focused on just making solid contact because she’s got plenty of power.
“People know her power and they’re going to pitch around her and make her try to chase,” he said. “She’s been doing that some, and we’ve told her if she’ll just barrel the ball up, it doesn’t have to go over the fence for her to get on base as hard as she hits the ball.”
The Lady Aces (9-6, 4-1) were first to strike, plating two runs in the opening frame on a two-out double by Hadley Phelps. In the bottom of the inning, Phelps worked out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam by getting to outs at the plate and a strikeout.
The offense went cold for the next few innings for Catholic, and a handful of runners were stranded before they finally added two runs in the sixth. A sacrifice fly by Phelps drove in Daneille Henning, and a double by Bailey Simone scored courtesy runner Hallie Dukate.
“Too many times, we didn’t put the ball in play,” Jeremy Phelps said. “You can’t do that against good teams. I thought (Daviess County was) a lot more disciplined at the plate this time. I think that’s the biggest part.”
Daviess County used two runs in the fifth inning to extend their lead. The double by Roberts knocked in Abby Newman, and a single by Cameron Hamilton drove in courtesy runner Sophie Simone.
Biggs said it was a team effort that helped the Lady Panthers win their third straight game, the most consecutive contests they’ve won this season.
“We’ve been struggling a little bit,” he said. “We lost some games that our kids probably thought they should have won. We’ve been working through some things. I felt like for the first time in a long time we took a couple of steps forward. What I saw out there tonight was a team that trusted each other.”
Hannah Clark got the win for Daviess County. She gave up four runs on five hits and struck out five through 5.2 innings. Greysee Whitaker closed out the game and allowed only one runner who reached on an error.
Hadley Phelps took the loss for Catholic, allowing six runs (four unearned) on five hits through 4.1 innings.
Newman scored twice and had a double for the Lady Panthers, and Roberts was the only player with multiple hits for either team. Phelps led the Lady Aces with three RBIs.
The teams split the season series with each club winning at home. With a few weeks still left and more district action down the road, Biggs said they have to keep improving.
“There’s a lot of softball to be played,” he said. “In any given game, anybody can beat each other. We all have to bring our A game. All we want to do is take this and build on it and keep going forward.”
OCHS 200-002-0—4-5-1
DCHS 040-020-1—6-6-2
WP: Clark. LP: Phelps. 2B: Phelps, Simone (OC), Newman, Roberts (DC). 3B: Stanley. HR: Roberts (DC).
