The Best Seat in the House

Garrard County has been held over at the State Softball Tournament, extending its stay in Owensboro into the second day of the tourney by going 2-1 on Friday.

The Lady Lions felled one of the state’s softball giants to earn the second of those two, beating perennial power North Laurel 8-0 in their second consolation-round game of the day.

That means Garrard will play at least one more game in this year’s tournament than last year, when it went 1-2. It is one of eight teams remaining in the 16-team field, and one of four in the losers’ bracket.

Life in hard in the losers’ bracket on Saturday, as teams that begin the day having already lost once in the double-elimination tournament must win six straight games to take the title, and with little if any rest between them.

The good news is that No. 22 Garrard begins its day with a 10 a.m. game against Pleasure Ridge Park, the team it defeated last year in Owensboro between losses to Ryle and Anderson County. If the Lady Lions win that game, they’ll play the loser of the Mercy-Allen County-Scottsville quarterfinal.

Sixth-ranked Allen rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat Garrard 5-4 in the first round, scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game.

They Lady Lions then got 12 hits — the same number they gave up against Allen — to beat Estill County 10-2 in their first consolation-round game, and they allowed only two hits in their win over fourth-ranked North Laurel.

The other teams still alive in the tournament are North Hardin and Owensboro Catholic in the winners’ bracket and Franklin County and Conner in the losers’ bracket. Click here for an updated bracket, and here for Friday’s linescores, and if you haven’t seen it, check out Ben Kleppinger’s story in Thursday’s Advocate about how Garrard’s four seniors weren’t left out of their graduation ceremony even though they were in Owensboro while the festivities were going on tonight in Lancaster.

The second game of the Danville-Lexington Catholic semi-state series at Henry Clay has been postponed due to rain for a second straight day.

Game 2 has been rescheduled for at 7:30 p.m. Friday, with game 3, if necessary, to be played at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Henry Clay officials called tonight’s game off even earlier than they did Wednesday, making the decision at about 12:30 p.m. But this time it was no surprise, as more rain has fallen in the last 24 hours than in the previous 24.

Lexington Catholic (25-8-3) leads Danville (27-12) 1-0 in the series after a 10-0, five-inning win Monday.

Tonight’s second game of the Danville-Lexington Catholic semi-state series at Henry Clay has been postponed due to rain. Henry Clay officials made the call to postpone the game by mid-afternoon, four or five hours before game time.

The game will be played at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, with Game 3, if necessary, still scheduled for Friday night. If Thursday’s game is rained out, Game 2 would be Friday night and the series finale would be pushed back to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Lexington Catholic (25-8-3) leads Danville (27-12) 1-0 in the series after a 10-0, five-inning win Monday.

The quick call to postpone the game is a head-scratcher. Just over a quarter-inch of rain fell in Lexington this morning, which shouldn’t have been a problem because semi-state hosts are required to have a tarp that covers the dirt portions of the field, and the sun has been shining all afternoon. There’s still a good chance it’ll rain this evening, but there’s also a chance it won’t.

Still, the decision has been made and they’ll try again Thursday, when there’s a 50 percent chance of rain. And if it rains very much in Lexington tonight or in the morning, there’s no reason to believe they’ll play then, either.

In case you missed it, the Advocate’s All-Area baseball team was announced Sunday, and the All-Area softball team will be was announced Wednesday.

Danville fell hard in the first game of its semi-state series against Lexington Catholic on Monday night, losing 10-0 in five innings. The ninth-ranked Knights scored six four runs in the first inning, then got four more in the bottom of the fifth to end the game on the mercy rule.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is Wednesday night at Henry Clay.