Dixie Heights Colonels Head Coach Sarah Osborne said it best when describing the 9th Region Tournament draw calling it deja vu, Groundhog’s Day.
The same eight teams repeated as either district champion or runner-up. Then the draw shaped up with the exact same teams facing each other in the quarterfinals on the exact same sides as last year. Osborne spoke for the Colonels and the other six teams outside the defending region champion and 36th District champion Highlands Bluebirds (24-8-1) to an extent in terms of the desired result when the dust settles.
“I’m hoping that they don’t make it a groundhog’s day – that they change it up a bit,” Osborne said. “But it’s in their hands at that point. The coaches are along for the ride at this point. We’re here for them and pushing them however they need it. But at this point, it’s the girls.”
Highlands knocked off Dixie Heights in a classic region championship game at Notre Dame last year. Down to the final strike twice, junior outfielder Bailey Markus smacked a 1-2 pitch into center field for the game-winning hit with the bases loaded scoring two to give the Bluebirds a 3-2 victory.
Highlands has the homefield advantage this year. The region semifinals Saturday and the championship game Sunday are at their home Winkler Field in Fort Thomas so an opponent will have to come there and win to dethrone the defending region champions.
Highlands finished a perfect 11-0 in 9th Region play during the regular season including a 5-0 mark against the other teams in the field. The Bluebirds are ranked 40th in the final Kentucky Softball Coaches Association Statewide poll. They beat 35th-ranked Western Hills and finished 1-1 against 17th-ranked Harrison County. They also battled sixth-ranked Great Crossing for several innings.
“It’s hard to set up a ridiculous schedule in northern Kentucky because you have to travel all the time to play really good teams,” said Milt Horner, Highlands head coach. “But we’ve played a bunch of teams in the Top 50 and competed with them. I’m really proud of what they did. There were a couple games where they were a little flat. But we were competitive in every game we played and that’s all I can ask of them.”
A big factor in this tournament could be health. Highlands senior Kennedy Baioni (9-3, 2.97 ERA) has not pitched much lately. Horner said freshman Morgan Pompilio is 95 percent. But freshman Kaitlyn Dixon (10-2, 1.15 ERA) can step in if necessary. Senior Carly Cramer and Bailey Markus have pitched some as well.
“I’m going to have some of my depth players that aren’t able to play. Probably my starting lineup is as healthy as it’s been since spring break,” Horner said. “My plan is to start Kennedy on Wednesday. She’s definitely going to play. We’ll see how that goes. We have some bumps and bruises. If you play softball all season, that means you’re sore somewhere. That just means you play very hard. I think I’m getting through the injury situation.”
Markus leads Highlands with a .440 batting average and Brown is second at .439 with Cramer close at .430. Brown has team-highs with 15 doubles and seven triples. Cramer and Baioni are tied for the team-high with four home runs each.
“We play as a team and I think we have a special bond with each other. We don’t play for our numbers,” Pompilio said. “We play for the name on the front so I think ever since we’ve hit postseason, we’ve practiced non-stop and if we have errors, we make ourselves do something for the errors like pushups.”
Highlands opens the tournament Wednesday at 5 p.m., playing host to the 34th District runner-up Villa Madonna Vikings (13-11). The two did not play each other during the regular season.
The Vikings finished 12-10 against region competition, including an 0-5 mark against the other teams in the field. They are led by Cam Kratzer with a .575 batting average and a record of 9-8 and a 3.65 ERA on the mound.
The other game on Wednesday features the 33rd District runner-up Cooper (19-13) at the 35th District champion Notre Dame (14-9) at the same time. Both finished 10-4 in region play. The Jaguars won the regular season meeting 4-0 at home on March 29. Cooper finished 3-3 against the field losing all three meetings against in-town rival Ryle.
Cooper has put together another nice season despite the graduation of several key players from last year. The Jaguars hope to make up after falling short of expectations last year. Senior Kendall Blau (15-8, 3.22 ERA) leads the way on the mound with junior Ava Scott leading at the plate at a .443 clip.
Notre Dame finished is 3-4 against the field. Sophomore Abby Turnpaugh (13-6, 1.74) leads the Pandas on the mound and senior Tori Danneman is the leading hitter with a .539 batting average.
The other side plays the quarterfinal games at 5 p.m. on Thursday. The 34th District champion Dixie Heights (19-13) open with 36th District runner-up Newport Central Catholic (13-10).
The Colonels have won 13 of their last 17 coming into the tournament. They are 11-3 in region play including a 5-3 mark against the 9th Region field. Dixie Heights brought back some former players including one of the two seniors from last year in Ava Meyer to practice Monday to help fine tune some things.
“That’s something we emphasize all the time is little things build to the big things,” Osborne said. “Like (assistant coach) Kristen (Elfers) said at practice (Monday), we can’t afford to make little mistakes and especially with runners at third base, we can’t afford to give those runs up. The girls know the little things matter because they build up whether in a good way or a bad way.”
Junior Riley Hopkins returned to the mound after starting a number of games last year. She is 11-8 with a 3.63 ERA. Hopkins generally does well locating her pitches and the defense makes plays behind her. Juniors Taylor Ingram, Skylar Mitchell and senior Ella Steczynski lead the Colonels at the plate among players with at least 97 at-bats with .505, .485, .475 batting averages, respectively.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. But our team has grown a lot,” Hopkins said. “I know we were struggling at the beginning of the season. But toward the end here, we’ve been doing a lot better with pretty much everything.”
NewCath has taken some lumps under first-year head coach Mark Watts. NewCath is 12-6 in region play including a 2-5 record against the field. Senior Kayleigh Brooks (11-9, 5.22) has been the main pitcher. Senior Mia Buemi is the leading hitter with an impressive .545 average.
The other game at the same time sees 35th District runner-up Beechwood (14-14) travel to Union to take on the 33rd District champion Ryle Raiders (16-11). Ryle beat Beechwood, 10-0 in the regular season meeting March 22 in Fort Mitchell.
The Raiders have six seniors that received valuable experience from last year’s region semifinal squad in Payton Godfrey, Aaliyah Kaseke, Lerin Moreland, Avery Parsons, Grace Tranbarger and Emily Zmurk. Parsons has a team-high .404 batting average among players with 27 or more at-bats.
“That’s the main thing we had coming into this year. Most of them have been around the program since they were seventh graders,” said Jarret Goddard, Ryle head coach. “We had one transfer in the eighth grade. But we have a ton of experience on the team and we’ve definitely leveraged that throughout the season. Three of our seniors were voted captains by their peers.”
Zmurk does not need to be reminded of Ryle’s glorious past. The Raiders were once the premier program in the area winning the only fastpitch state championship here in 2006 to go with runner-up finishes in 1996 and 2007. She said this year’s team would love for nothing more than to add a piece to that legacy.
“It’s a very exciting time for me and my team. I had a career-ending injury and they’re taking on my role honestly,” Zmurk said. “I made some of my best friends here and just having the bond we have. I’m very grateful. We’re ready to roll. It’s time. We’ve put in the work.”
Junior pitcher Maddie Goddard (13-8, 1.58) has followed up last year with another nice year on the mound. Sophomore catcher Laney Schuster has also come up with key hits this year leading the Raiders with five home runs.
Beechwood comes in after winning the first All “A” 9th Region crown in program history in Mary Beth Odom’s second season. The Tigers also have six seniors in Lexi Engelman, Addison Durrett, Laney Hatridge, Brooklyn McGuire, Lynden Noll and Katie Rolf. Hatridge is the leading hitter with a .411 average and McGuire (13-13, 5.71 ERA) leads the way in the circle.
“Beechwood grew night and day from last year from when we played them early in the season to when we played them in the region tournament just like we’re going to do this year,” Jarret Goddard said. “They’re a very well-coached team. Coach Odom over there is building an excellent program. I’m going to prepare our team like I do every other game. Beechwood is a team that could come up here, put up some runs and win some ballgames. We need to be well-prepared for them and what they’re going to bring to the table.”
While Highlands enters as the clear favorite, recent history doesn’t suggest so. No team has repeated as region champions since Ryle did it three years in a row from 2010-12.
9TH REGION TOURNAMENT (First round at district champs, semis and finals at Highlands)
Wednesday, May 24
Villa Madonna at Highlands, 5 p.m.
Cooper at Notre Dame, 5 p.m.
Thursday, May 25
Newport Central Catholic at Dixie Heights, 5 p.m.
Beechwood at Ryle, 5 p.m.
Saturday, May 27
Semifinals, 12 and 2 p.m.
Sunday, May 28
Championship, 2 p.m.