Rare company: Ballard High beats Henderson County to repeat as KHSAA softball champion

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The repeat is complete.

Behind the arm of Gatorade Kentucky Player of the Year Brooke Gray and an offense that finally busted loose, the Ballard High School softball team beat Henderson County 12-4 in Saturday’s championship game of the Clark’s Pump-N-Shop State Tournament at the University of Kentucky’s John Cropp Stadium.

Ballard (36-1) became the third fast-pitch softball program in Kentucky history to win back-to-back state championships, joining Owensboro Catholic (1998-99) and Greenwood (2007-08).

“It was extremely difficult,” Bruins coach Alan Jones said. “Every game everybody played you like it was their state championship. So we had to be up every game.”

Ballard went 39-0 last year to capture the first state title in program history and lost just once this season — 6-4 to Great Crossing in a game Gray missed because of an illness.

The Bruins were ranked No. 1 in Kentucky all season and are among the top 10 nationally in two rankings — No. 2 by MaxPreps.com and No. 7 by USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association.

“I’ve seen a lot of great teams,” Jones said. “I can’t imagine any better team than these ladies right here.”

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Gray (29-0), a University of Louisville signee, completed her second straight undefeated season as a pitcher, allowing four hits, striking out 10 and earning tournament MVP honors. In the second inning, she picked up her 300^th strikeout of the season.

But it didn’t come easy for her as Henderson County, down 5-0, scored four runs in the third inning to pull within 5-4. The Colonels became just the fourth team all season to score at least four runs against Ballard.

“My pitches weren’t moving; they were right down the middle,” Gray said. “It was a matter of when they were going to start scoring runs like that. It was opening my eyes. You’ve got to be better.

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“I think I was just angry for the most part. I haven’t given up four runs like that in a long time. It was, ‘You need to lock in. Something’s wrong.’ So we fixed it, and here we are.”

Thankfully for Ballard, the bats were hot after producing just three hits in a 4-1 victory over Rowan County in Friday’s semifinals.

Jones had promised the offense would come around in Saturday’s championship game but said he didn’t mention it to his team.

“I said, ‘We’re not going to talk to them about hitting. We’re just going to go through our drills,’” Jones said. “I kept my mouth shut, which is unusual. Kept them loose, and, boom, there we went.”

Emory Donaldson, a UK signee, led Ballard’s 10-hit attack, going 4-for-4 with a double, a triple, two RBIs and four runs scored.

Her RBI triple sparked a six-run sixth inning that turned a 6-4 lead into a 12-4 rout.

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“When knew this was the day,” Donaldson said. “We wanted to go out with a bang. Going out there, being aggressive, hitting our pitch.”

Henderson County, ranked No. 5 in Kentucky, finished 33-6 after reaching its first state final.

Sophomore pitcher Anna Kemp (23-6) threw 176 pitches and struck out 21 in Friday’s 4-1, 10-inning semifinal victory over East Jessamine. Colonels coach Shannon Troutman said Kemp didn’t have her best stuff in the championship game.

“I knew she was wore out,” Troutman said. “Her fastball didn’t have the velocity. Her curveball, she couldn’t control it today. So I knew we were going to have to score a lot of runs. She gave it her all. …

“Ballard has a great program, and they deserved to win that game. No doubt.”

Jefferson County Public Schools programs have now won four straight state softball championships, with Male capturing the 2019 title and Butler taking the 2021 crown. The 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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When it ended Saturday, Gray expressed a range of emotions — happiness for the second straight championship, sadness that it was over.

“This team as a whole is something you’d search for your whole life,” Gray said. “It’s not even about breaking records and the back-to-back. These are girls I’ll think about the rest of my life. Just knowing I can text each and every one of them every day and I can come to games next year, it’s great. As a person, you should want what we have as a whole.”

HENDERSON COUNTY 004 000 0 - 4 4 4

BALLARD 230 106 x - 12 10 1

WP – Brooke Gray (29-0). LP – Anna Kemp (23-6).

MVP – Brooke Gray (Ballard).

All-tournament team – Mikayla Milby, Emory Donaldson (Ballard); Hallie McCracken, Anna Kemp (Henderson County); Alexandra Cox-Smith, Kayleigh White (East Jessamine); Trinity Lambert, Haven Ford (Rowan County); Lynlee Britain (Central Hardin); Raylee Roby (Daviess County); Madelyn Vaughn (Johnson Central); Kayden Murray (Greenwood).

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Ballard beats Henderson County to win KHSAA softball 2023 championship