Ladycat Fast Pitch faces off against Boone County in semi-state on Friday in Lexington

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The breakdown of Boone County and the two regular season matchups between the Ladycats and Lady Rebels

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  • The 2021 10th Region Champions
    The 2021 10th Region Champions
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The Ladycats march in post season has been a series of rematches from the regular season.

They beat Harrison County in the 10th Region final, 7-6 in 8 innings in an immediate classic, after having split with them in the regular season and dropping the 38th District Championship game 3-2 to the Fillies.

In the KHSAA semi-state game to be played at 8 p.m. on Friday, June 11 at the University of Kentucky, they match up with the 9th Region champion, Boone County Lady Rebels. A team they split with during the regular season.

Boone County is in the midst of a 16-game winning streak that including a victory over Pendleton County.

Pendleton at 24-11 was the top ranked team in the 10th Region with an RPI of .60468. Per RPI, they are ranked 32nd in the state. Boone County was ranked #5 in the 9th Region with an RPI of .57597 but they beat the #1 ranked team, Cooper High School, 3-2 in the 9th regional finals. They are ranked 57th in the state.

Tickets for the game can be purchased online at https://gofan.co/app/school/KHSAA. KHSAA will be the only broadcast option and can be viewed via https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/associations/khsaa

Kylie Richardson was in the pitcher’s circle against the Lady Rebels in both of the regular season matchups. She went five innings only allowing two earned runs in the 9-7 victory on April 3 played at George Rogers Clark.

She gave up five earned runs while walking five and striking out four in the Ladycats 13-8 loss to Boone County on May 14.

In neither game did Boone County face sophomore ace Kayley Bruener. She is expected to be in the pitcher’s circle in the semi-state matchup. For the season, she has pitched 128 innings with a 1.96 earned run average. She has struck out 212 batters, 19th in the state, over those 128 innings while only walking 39. Those stats do not include the last two regional games which have not been uploaded on the KHSAA Pendleton County team page.

In the April 3 victory, Pendleton’s lineup was pretty similar to the one that put on the field in regional play. Madison Verst, Kayley Bruener, Raegan Carlisle and Olivia Verst each had two hits in the game. Carlisle scored twice and Olivia Verst had three runs.

In the May 14 loss, Pendleton’s lineup was much different with Madison Verst out with an injury, Bruener did not play, and Sydney Manor who had the game winning hit in the regional championship game also did not play.

Pendleton saw two Boone County pitchers during the regular season games and both pitched in the regional tournament. Karys Black took the loss in the April 3 game and pitched five innings with six walks and four strikeouts. She did not give up a hit to Dayton in the first round of the regional tourney versus Dayton and only one hit in the regional semi-final against Notre Dame. Kaitlyn Irwin picked up the victory against Pendleton in May going seven innings with three walks and only two strikeouts.

Offensively, only two Boone County players are among the state stat leaders but the team as a whole is 24th in the state in batting average. Black has slugged 12 home runs which is 13th in the state and 51 runs batted in which is 21st.. Harper Kinman has 18 doubles which is 13th in the state.

They have four players batting above .400 for the season. Harper leads the at .486 followed by Irwin at .463, Black at .446 and Kailey Richardson at .433. Mia Nixson is just under that line at .398 and if she gets on base expect her to look to swipe the next base with 15 stolen bases while being caught twice.

Pendleton County also has two players among the state leaders. Carlisle’s seven triples in 13th in the state, Bruener is 7th in slugging percentage with 11 doubles, four triples and eight home runs.

Ballard will play the winner of Region 3 at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 12. The Pendleton/Boone winner will face off with the winner of the Ballard/Region 3 game on Friday, June 18 with a time to be determined later.