The Region III West Softball Tournament started last Monday, but with a #1 seed, the Patrick County High School Lady Cougars softball team had a bye. Tuesday, they started play hosting the #2 seed from Conference 29, Turner Ashby, and won the two-day contest 2-1.

The Lady Cougars started quick with the bats getting two singles in the first inning from Makenzie Watts and Melanie Roberson. In the second inning, Zoe Hutchens reached by an error and Sydney Biggs walked.

It wasn’t until the third inning that the Lady Cougars got a run on the board. Savannah Moorefield took the first pitch of the at-bat and sent it over the fence in center field. Just as she crossed the plate and was gathered by her teammates, lightning struck and everyone had to clear the field. After about 20 minutes of hard rain, the game was suspended due to field conditions.

On Wednesday, midday, the game was resumed right where the teams had left off. It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the bats came back alive. Morgan Biggs led the inning off with a single, but was later caught stealing second. Savannah Moorefield reached with a single for her second hit of the game. Then, Makenzie Watts singled for the second time, but Watts and Moorefield were left on base.

The Lady Knights finally got on the board in the sixth inning after a two-out walk. The runner would then make her way to third on a single and then would later score on a throw down to third that got past the third baseman.

After holding the Lady Knights in the seventh, the Lady Cougars came up big for their last at-bat. Hanna Hylton started off the inning with a single to the right side. She was moved to second by a sacrifice bunt from Morgan Biggs. Savannah Moorefield was intentionally walked—which brought Makenzie Watts to the plate. She hit a base hit up the middle that put Hanna Hylton in motion from second.

As she rounded second, “there was no holding her back,” said Coach Roger Wilson. Hanna went in hard at home as the catcher was up the line to receive the ball from the outfield. A safe call was made and the Lady Cougars won.

“They never stop, they never give up. That’s what this team does,” said Wilson. “They keep fighting until the end. We hit the ball better then we have been hitting it, and I like to see that with the games ahead of us,” said Wilson.

Last Thursday, the Lady Cougars traveled to the Jackson River Sport Complex in Covington to play Liberty High School in the semifinals and won 6-3.

The game was scoreless through the first two innings due to good defense and a pitching duel.

Liberty got on the board first with a lead-off single and then reached third with a sacrifice bunt. After a throw down to third that was unsuccessful, the runner scored on the error.

Lady Cougar pitcher Cassidy Largen then sat the side down with two strikeouts.

In the bottom half of the inning, Makenzie Watts redeemed herself with a single and then Melanie Roberson reached by error. Abby Hutchens came to the plate and hit a gapper to right center to score Watts. Then Zoe Hutchens followed with a two-RBI single that put the Lady Cougars up 3-1.

The Lady Cougars got another run in the fourth after Watts reached by an error and was later scored by a single from Zoe Hutchens.

Liberty tried to get something going in the top of the fifth after the lead-off batter reached on a one-out single. After a strike out, the Lady Minutemen rallied with two outs. Another batter singled and runners were on second and third. The clean-up batter doubled and scored two runners making the score 4-3.

And that was all it took; the Lady Cougars scored again in the bottom of the frame when Hanna Hylton reached by a fielder’s choice, and then with two outs, Savannah Moorefield came up and took the first pitch to the fence to score Hanna as she reached safely to third. Watts then batted Moorefield in with a single.

After only allowing one more hit, Cassidy Largen finished the game strong for the last two innings with a Lady Cougar win, 6-3.

The win allowed the Cougars to advance to Friday’s Region 3A West title game and earned them a berth in this week’s Group 3A state tournament.

Coach Roger Wilson was overcome with strong emotions after the win. “Finally…they deserve it,” he said. “All the work we’ve done, that they’ve done, worked out for them. Three years of not making it and just barely, I’m just so happy for them,” Wilson said.

Savannah Moorefield went 1-3 with a RBI triple and scored one run. Makenzie Watts went 2-4, hitting a single, double and reached by error; she scored two runs. Melanie Roberson went 1-2 with a double and reached by error and a walk; she scored one run. Abby Hutchens went 2-3 with a double and scored one run. Zoe Hutchens went 2-4 with 3 RBIs. Sydney Biggs went 2-4. Melissa Pendleton went 2-4. Hanna Hylton scored one run, and Morgan Biggs went 1-3. Cassidy Largen had 10 strikeouts, two walks, two hits and one unearned run.

Friday, the Lady Cougars traveled to Lord Botetourt High School to play Brookville in the 3A West Regional Championship game. The Lady Cougars lost 6-1.

It was a pitchers’ duel game with the top two pitchers in the region matching up almost perfectly through six innings. Lady Cougar pitcher Cassidy Largen had nine strikeouts and four hits as Brookville’s Jordan Dail had 10 strikeouts and three hits.

Patrick County struck the board first in the fourth inning with a lead-off single from Zoe Hutchens. Montana Moorefield was in to run for Hutchens and reached second after a sacrifice bunt from Sydney Biggs. With two outs Hanna Hylton singled and scored Montana Moorefield from second.

Then in the sixth inning, the Lady Bees got on the board with three back-to-back singles. In the seventh Brookville scored five more runs off four hits.

“We had a tough week,” Coach Roger Wilson said. “We had to play a lot of games this week to get to where we’re at now, so I told them today ‘we don’t have any pressure on us. Let’s just go out and learn things today and learn what we need to do for the next time when we do see them.’ And we almost pulled it out. We did great. I’m proud of them.”

On the pitcher’s mound, Cassidy Largen had nine strikeouts, allowed six hits and two walks while Josie Pendleton allowed two hits, two walks and one hit batter.

Savannah Moorefield went 1-2 with a triple and two walks. Zoe Hutchens went 1-3 and scored one run. Hanna Hylton went 1-3 and had one RBI.

The Lady Cougars are now 20-4 on the season. They play Warhill Friday at the Moyer Sports Complex in Salem. Game time is 4 p.m.