The first annual Battle of Union softball game on Monday pitting Cooper High School vs. Ryle rose out of an intense neighborhood rivalry. It’s also the product of some very creative coaching and enough trash talk to make a seasoned umpire blush.
But this is where the story throws a curveball early in the count. The taunting and the jeering in the Jaguars-Raiders rivalry isn’t coming from across the diamond. It’s coming across the dining room table at a Triple Crown home in Union. And some of the chatter is literally making a seasoned umpire blush.
“My wife and I have a bunch of daughters and no sons so I’m a girls dad,” said Cooper second-year coach Lee Patsel, a longtime travel-ball coach and umpire. “Two of my daughters played softball at different high schools. One played at Dixie Heights. My youngest daughter now plays at Ryle.”
Wait, what?
“My top pitcher and one of my best players, senior Rayne Patsel, is a daughter of Cooper coach Lee Patsel,” Ryle coach Dave Meier said. “It can be a little confusing to some people on the outside.”
A little?
There’s actually a lot more going on here than meets the eye, and the beauty of Monday’s moment is in the eyes of the beholders.
“In a lot of ways this game is super special,” Rayne Patsel said. “I can’t wait. I’m really psyched. There’s a lot on the line.”
Included in the haul are bragging rights in Union, bragging rights in the Patsel household, an all-important district win and the early edge in the annual Cooper-Ryle season series. The Jaguars and Raiders are scheduled to play twice with potentially much more in store.
There is a 33rd District seeding game in April. There’s the possibility of a district tournament clash in May and a near sublime opportunity to meet yet again in the Ninth Region tournament.
Rayne Patsel doesn’t care about that right now. All she cares about is taking care of Cooper next week so she can reign supreme at home and claim dominance with a big ol’ “Who’s your daddy?”
Patsel’s dad knows the answer to that.
“I’m the dad of three girls,” the coach said. “And, whether my daughter wants to believe it or not, I’ve got a pretty good softball team at the other school in Union.”
Battle of Union, Chapter 1
The Ryle softball coach poses with his four seniors. Left to right are Dave Meier, Brooklyn Roland, Karysa Lowery, Rayne Patsel and MaKenna Hirshey. Photo provided | Dave Meier
It comes to a head on Monday at 5:30 p.m. when Ryle plays at Cooper. Both teams have winning records. Cooper is 2-1 with an 8-8 tie at home against Bracken County. Ryle is 5-2 with a 20-10 win at Bracken County. The Raiders routed fellow returning region tournament semifinalist Notre Dame Academy, 15-0. They have won four games in a row.
The Raiders are tough customers, who demand change. Ask Notre Dame. They are 23-11 since Meier took over the program ahead of the 2025 season. The Raiders were 13-14 the season before he arrived.
Cooper, a perennial 20-game winner and regional contender, has nevertheless taken down Ryle just once in the past nine meetings with no wins since 2024. The Jaguars have been outscored 18-12 in the last two meetings with the Raiders, all under Patsel, who presided over just 10 wins his first season while making big changes with just one senior.
“So, obviously, all this stuff between Cooper and Ryle is all in good fun,” coach Patsel said of the in-home, trash-talking run-up to Monday’s showdown. “But, in all seriousness, we want to win. Last year was tough and I’m not sure we had what we needed to have to fight through things. This year, they just won’t quit and they fight.”
The Cooper-Ryle sports rivalry is one of the more intense in the area due to the schools’ physical proximity and the fact many athletes grow up together in the same neighborhoods, but this is ridiculous. The updated Cooper-Ryle softball rivalry is rooted in banter over the Patsel’s dinner table.
A wooden structure with green-tinted surface tile that seats eight, the table is where most of the good-natured boasting takes place at the Patsels, often with Mrs. Patsel seated alongside. One day under the glare of dining room lighting, coach Patsel had a lightbulb moment.
“I knew about the Battle of Union for the Cooper-Ryle football game, but there wasn’t anything like that for softball,” the coach said. “But the football game has nothing to do with the softball idea.”
The softball idea has everything to do with all the smack talk at home and the love underneath all the ribbing. “The talk at home bled into the game,” coach Patsel said. “And it eventually got into our dugout.”
The unique father-daughter-opposing coach dynamic could be a Bermuda triangle of chaos and boundary setting at the Patsels, but it’s not. There’s also no drama at Ryle.
“It’s definitely a little weird that my dad coaches our rival. But it’s also fun and nobody shares any secrets,” Rayne said. “After playing for my dad on travel ball teams since I was 4, it’s nice playing against him for a change.”
Flipping the script
Cooper merely wants to turn the tables on Ryle in a rivalry heavily favoring the Raiders. Especially since Rayne in a postgame flourish painted in Raider orange and black a slab of otherwise useless concrete rock in the Cooper dugout.
“It’s OK. I played along with it,” said the Cooper coach, who will take a motivation tool any way he can get it. “It’s been a year since she did that. I just decided to keep it there to remind us we haven’t beaten Ryle in a while. I’ll let our girls repaint it in Cooper colors when we earn it.”
That could happen Monday with a Cooper upset of Ryle. If the Jaguars win, not only does the rock in their home dugout get repainted but they also take home the new traveling trophy. When coach Patsel told Meier last year of his plans for a Battle of Union reframing of the softball rivalry, the Ryle coach was all in.
“This is 100% all coach Patsel’s idea and I love it,” Meier said. “He also made the original purchase of the wooden traveling trophy. It’s made out of a bourbon barrel as a replica of Kentucky. When he gave me the trophy, since we won last year, my investment was to add the “Battle of Union”, both school logos and the score of last year’s game.”
That’s a perfect Dave Meier character moment — collaborative, competitive and slightly mischievous. Coach Patsel noticed the score of 11-7 on the trophy.
“Just an extra jab in the side by going ahead and putting the score on there,” the coach said. “It’s probably a little premature since technically this is the first official year. But I went ahead and told our girls that this is what Ryle thinks of you.”
Patsel doubled down and had some Battle of Union T-shirts printed up for Monday’s game. He made sure the seniors were in on it.
“I’ve got five seniors,” the coach said. “They’ve truly helped with their acceptance of the new philosophy.”
Leading the way for the Jaguars are seniors Kaitlyn Furnish, Sadie James, Ainsley Scroggie, Lily Spraker and Audrey Stith. Spraker is the early-season hitting leader with a robust .800 batting average. Furnish is third at .545, just behind eighth grader Kayla Dalcour. Freshman Kinley Johnson is batting .545. Junior Alivia Scott is hitting .455, giving the Jaguars a healthy .351 team batting average. The pitching, led by Spraker, is still a work in progress with upside.
“The seniors were juniors last year and adjusting to a new coach, and change is hard,” coach Patsel said. “Having one senior last year with no experience with me made it tough. Having five with all of last year together is totally different. They are a significant part of our game.”
Ryle boasts a team batting average of .371 in part because opponents can’t get out the clean-up-hitting Rayne Patsel. One of four seniors, she’s hitting an impossible .913 (11-for-12) with a home run and a pair of doubles. She’s 2-0 in three starts in the circle with a 4.54 ERA as a seasoned complement to sophomore pitcher Addie Farmer, 3-0 with a 2.67 ERA.
Other top hitters for the Raiders include freshman Emily Gehring, batting .593 with a team-leading 14 RBI. Sisters Kiley Patterson (.455), a sophomore, and Kam Patterson (.417), a freshman, are catalysts. Seniors Brooklyn Roland (.364) and Karysa Lowery (.333) are off to strong starts.
“Our strengths are definitely hitting, team defense and speed.” said Ryle’s coach Meier. “Our pitching is coming along after losing our No. 1 starter. Cooper has some hitters so we expect a battle.”
At long last, it’s the Battle of Union, softball style, between Cooper and Ryle. The table is set. Now get your tickets.