ASHLAND Boyd County skipper Lance Seasor needed only one word to describe his starting pitcher Tuesday night.
Bulldog.
Elyn Simpkins stymied Raceland in the 16th Region semifinals while making sharp comebackers to the circle look like another mundane and routine play. Simpkins set the tone in the final two stanzas by setting down the Rams in order highlighted by three sharply hit balls back at her that resulted in a quick and effortless out.
By the time the dust settled in the cool and crisp air, the Lions had punched their ticket to the championship with a 7-4 win over the Rams at Ashland.
“She’s a kid you love to coach,” Seasor said of Simpkins. “When she is in the circle, I have the utmost confidence in her. She will be out there again tomorrow. For such a young player, she plays above her years.”
Simpkins’s biggest challenge came in the fifth after Raceland pulled to within one on a Davanna Grubb RBI single. With runners at the corners with no outs, Lily Poplin grounded back to Simpkins who promptly turned toward the runner at third who had broke for the plate. Simpkins retired the runner for the first out then followed with another ball hit back at her from Baylee Burney for the second out of the inning.
Then came the most crucial moment of the game when Reagan Mackie appeared to have dropped in a ball that Lions first baseman Myla Hamilton touched in fair territory before the ball caromed from her glove into foul territory, thus evening the game at 5-5. The play, however, was deemed to be a foul ball from the first touch of the ball, which negated the run, leaving Boyd up 5-4. Two pitches later, Simpkins fired a rise ball to retire the Rams with a strikeout to end the fifth.
“She’s used to playing in big situations and tonight wasn’t any different,” Seasor said. “I couldn’t be more confident when she’s in the circle. I love having her out there.”
Simpkins allowed only five hits, four runs — two earned -- and struck out four. But her offense helped her along the way as well.
Boyd County grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on a Grace Stephens bunt. Lacyn Black smacked a two-RBI single to left for a 3-0 edge early in the contest.
“It opened up what we could do,” Seasor said of the early lead. “We could bunt a little more and move runners. It just opened up everything we could do.”
Burney got things rolling for the Rams with a single to put two runners on after a leadoff walk to Poplin to open the frame. A Lions fielding error sent both Poplin and Burney to the plate as the lead was trimmed to 3-2. Boyd County answered back with a run in the third after Jadyn Goad smacked a leadoff double off the fence in center and later scored on a Hamilton RBI single that pushed the back to two. Kali Vance countered the Lions’ run in the third with a leadoff solo shot to right that cut the deficit back to one.
Raceland trailed by only one to start the final frame, but Boyd County pushed across two runs sparked by a Hamilton one-out double to left. A pair of Rams fielding errors on back-to-back plays allowed the Lions some breathing room and a 7-4 lead going to the bottom of the final inning.
“It changes it a lot because you are thinking you need one run in the bottom of the seventh and in one-run games in the last three that we’ve had, we’ve done pretty good with,” Raceland coach Scott Adkins said. “But you go down by three to a good team like that and Simpkins is a good pitcher and she just controlled us. We just got taken out of our game a little bit.”
Raceland had secured wins in each of its three postseason contests but a single run, leaving Adkins hopeful that the game was still within reach in the Rams finals at-bats of the season with 2-3-4 coming through in the order.
“That’s been our MO all year and maybe we get behind, but we are one of those teams that can score runs but we just didn’t do that tonight,” Adkins said. “You live and die by the bat.”
Raceland’s 30 wins eclipsed that program record for more wins ever by a Rams softball team, leaving Adkins proud of what his squad had accomplished.
“It’s the best season I’ve ever had as coach and the most wins I’ve ever had as a coach and I’ve been around a long time,” he said. “This team is special. They are good and they will be back here next year and be right in the thick of things.”
Boyd County took a five-game winning streak into the showdown with Ashland in the 16th Region championship Wednesday at 7 p.m.
“For my first year, I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Seasor said. “My girls are coming together at the right time and they are starting to buy in and play the right way. This is what you want and what you start your season out hoping to have a chance to play for and we are there.”
BOYD CO. 032 100 2 — 7 8 1
RACELAND 021 010 0 — 4 5 4
Simpkins and Henderson; Grubb and Vance. W—Simpkins. L—Grubb. 2B—Jadyn Goad (B), Jaycie Goad (B), Hamilton (B), Simpkins (B). HR—Vance (R).
