BROOKSVILLE – Mason County was the favorite entering the 39th District softball tournament on Monday at Bracken County.
And the Lady Royals showed why in their semifinal contest against St. Patrick.
Lexy Cooper pitched a perfect game and Mason County shut out the Lady Saints in five innings, 10-0, to earn a spot in Tuesday’s championship game as they look for their fourth straight 39th District title.
“Being the favorite only sounds good on paper. Until you do your job and take care of business, it doesn’t mean much,” said Mason County coach Adam Sapp. “You’ve got to come in every day and you’ve got to perform. If you don’t do that, you could slip up and lose real easy.”
Cooper started off the game with a strikeout and added nine more in the perfect performance. She sent six straight batters back to the bench in a stretch starting in the second inning and ending in the fourth and finished the game by fanning nine of the final 11 batters she faced.
“I didn’t throw really much, kept it simple, did what I had to do and kept it in the strike zone,” said Cooper.
The senior didn’t get the start in the semifinal last year against Augusta, but pitched the Lady Royals to a 5-4 victory over Bracken County in the final. This year, Sapp decided to go with his ace for both.
“She had only thrown a couple of games this week and I’m not too worried about fatigue. She handles innings well and it seems like pitching her back-to-back days she gets better. That’s the hope for tomorrow,” said Sapp. “I don’t know that she can be much better than perfect.”
Cooper got plenty of support behind her from the start. Leadoff hitter Lexie Thompson began the game by getting walked by St. Patrick pitcher Makenna Roush, before making her way around the bases, eventually scoring on a wild pitch to put Mason County up, 1-0.
The Lady Royals added five runs in the top of the second with the help of four St. Patrick errors. Victoria Brooks scored on a wild pitch, Allison Gibbs scored on an error and Cooper drove in Thompson and Kyndal Dotson with a double to make it 5-0. Cooper’s courtesy runner, Tabitha Sapp, later scored on a wild pitch.
Mason County kept the 6-0 lead heading into the fourth inning, where they added a run when Gibbs scored on a wild pitch. The Lady Royals put the mercy rule into play with three runs in the top of the fifth by remaining aggressive on the base path. They scored twice on wild pitches and added another on an RBI-groundout from Cheyenne Ritchie to take a 10-0 lead, before closing out the victory.
“She [Cooper] was just quick, she placed the ball real good and we couldn’t touch her, but we made some plays,” said St. Patrick coach Ronnie Clos. “I’m proud of our girls. We made some plays, we just couldn’t hit the ball.”
St. Patrick ends the season at 6-17. The Lady Saints have four seniors listed on the team – Hannah Mason, Elizabeth McKay, Samantha Dyar and Natalie Wilson.
“It’ll be hard to replace four seniors,” said Clos.
The win moves Mason County to 9-21. The Lady Royals will face Bracken County — an 18-2 winner over Augusta in the second semifinal — on Tuesday in the championship game. The Lady Royals beat the Lady Bears in the regular season, 17-4.
“You can’t come in and assume you’re going to score 17 runs on 22 hits again. You have to assume it’s going to be a tight game,” said Sapp. “This is a different situation. It’s not a meaningless regular season game. This is the district title, and if we want it we’re going to have to come get it.”
First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at Bracken County.
LADY ROYALS 10, LADY SAINTS 0 (5 INNINGS)
MASON COUNTY—-150-13X-X—-10-6-0
ST. PATRICK—-000-00X-X—-0-0-5
2B: Gibbs (MC), Cooper (MC)
RBI: (MC) –.Cooper 2, Ritchie (SP) – None.
LOB: Mason County 4, St. Patrick 0.
WP- Cooper. LP- Roush.
Records: Mason County 9-21, St. Patrick 6-17
