LEXINGTON — North Laurel is one win away from reaching the Final Four of the KHSAA Fastpitch State Tournament, but to do so, the Lady Jaguars will have to get past a red-hot Boyd County team first.
The two teams have met twice in the past with North Laurel coming away with a 6-3 win in 2003 and an 11-0 victory in 2005.
“For us to be able to get the first win was huge for our team,” North Laurel coach Chris Edwards said. “Our program has had a lot of wins in the state tournament but it is important for this group of girls to get a win. Our girls know the history and tradition of the North Laurel program. We have multiple girls on this team whose moms played at North Laurel, and played a huge part in building the program and legacy.
“As I said yesterday after the game, my coaches and I had a lot of goals when we took this job,” he added. “Getting back to state is always going to be a goal but we also wanted to get wins in the state tournament. We were lucky enough to get that done last night. Now we have to prepare for Boyd County.”
The Lady Lions enter Saturday’s matchup riding a seven-game win streak. They captured the 15th Region championship by defeating Ashland Blazer, 11-5, and reached the Elite Eight of the state tournament thanks to a 2-1 victory over Louisville Mercy.
Boyd County (23-17) trailed Louisville Mercy 1-0 entering the seventh inning when Jadyn Goad connected with a two-run home run that proved to be the game-winning hit.
Elyn Simpkins got the win, tossing seven innings while allowing five hits and one earned run. She also struck out six batters.
“I did get to see Boyd County a little yesterday,” Edwards said. “I was really focused on Letcher Central yesterday but we got to the field early enough to watch part of and the end of their game with Mercy. They are a solid team. Their record does not reflect how good they are. They lost some games through the middle of the season to some really good teams. One and two run losses.
“We only have two common opponents, they beat Letcher early in the year and lost one of those two-run games to Montgomery County,” he added. “Montgomery has two Division one players in their lineup and is very good. They are playing very well at the right time. I also seen the home run yesterday in the seventh that won their game. It’s gonna be a test for us for sure.”
The Lady Lions have been a surprise story, turning in a .55730 RPI rating which ranked them seventh in the 15th Region while North Laurel (28-9) possesses a six-game win streak and a .59328 RPI rating.
North Laurel captured its first state tournament win since 2017 with a 6-4 win over Letcher Central on Thursday.
The Lady Jaguars are now 38-33 in state tournament play. Their win over Letcher Central tied them with Louisville Mercy (38 wins) with the most wins in state tournament history, trailing only Owensboro Catholic (67 wins).
North Laurel jumped out on Let her Central on Thursday, building a 6-0 lead, only to hold off a late rally in the seventh inning before winning, 6-4.
“It is an every game goal to score first and put the pressure on the other team to play from behind,” Edwards said. “We want to win every inning, score every inning if possible. We scratched last night in the second inning with two runs off of their pitcher who had an ERA of less than two. I felt that put the pressure squarely on them. Fortunately, we were able to keep them at bay until this seventh inning.”
Eighth grader Emma Carl dominated for six innings, allowing only three hits and no runs before running into some trouble in the seventh inning. She finished the game allowing four runs, and eight hits while striking out 10 batters.
Offensively, the Lady Jaguars hit throughout their order, finishing with 10 hits.
“Keys to our game are the same as they have been and will remain,” Edwards said. “Starts with pitching and defense. Catch what we are supposed to, someone make a great play. Execute on offense, get the bunt down, take the extra base. Small things like that win a lot of games.
“With the late game last night, it would have been tough to have to come back to an early game the next day,” he added. “Obviously, it isn’t set up that way so the rest will be nice. We will have a light workout today, go over Boyd County a little bit and talk about what we need to do Saturday. Go Jags.”
The game is slated for a 1 p.m. start on Saturday.
