The first meeting of the 2025 softball season between Second District rivals, McCracken County and Paducah Tilghman took place Tuesday night. In what was a close contest through the first four innings of action, turned into an 11-5 Lady Mustang victory as they stayed consistent at the plate.
A total of 16 hits for those 11 runs did the trick for McCracken resulted in every girls on the Lady Mustangs lineup to connect for at least one hit. Lilly Hamilton would lead the way with the most consistency, going 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI, while Savannah McDowell, Ava Knight and Addley Leidecker each tallied two RBI.
“That was exactly what we wanted to see tonight,” McCracken County head coach Tony Hayden said. “Our bats stayed connected with the ball, we got help from everybody in the lineup and it was an all around team win.”
Opposite the Lady Mustangs, Sophie Key, Hailey Mooney, Mia Bobbitt, Zoe Burch and Madelyn Boling would tally the five individual hits on the night for Tilghman. Adrienne Romain contributed two of their five runs.
McCracken wasted no time getting on the board quickly as five of their six first at-bats resulted in connections for either an error or single. They took an early 3-0 lead thanks to singles from Leidecker and Knight, an error for McDowell and single from Hamilton.
Three total errors on the night for Tilghman would prove costly when all said and done.
Tilghman would be able to get one run back in the bottom of the first when Mooney singled to bring home Key, but that would be all the damage the Lady Tornado could induce.
Bats remained hot in the second for McCracken, adding two more runs on a ground out for Leidecker and a fly ball turned error for Knight as Kinley Dowdy and Macy Butler rounded home.
The Lady Tornado nearly went through their entire lineup in the top of the second, adding two more runs along the way for a 5-3 ballgame.
“You never know what to expect coming into game like these,” Hayden said. “I’ve seen them play two or three times and you never know how your group is going to react.”
Hayden notes that with the familiarity the two teams have with one another, surprising the other from the pitching circle is hard to do.
“They’ve seen both of our pitchers a multitude of times over the years, but this is a rivalry game, it’s a pressure game and you just never know how they are going to react.”
After three quick outs in the top of the third for McCracken, the Lady Blue Tornado would dial in with bats in hand, tying the game at 5-5 courtesy of a ground out from Boling to bring Romain home.
That would be as close to the lead as Tilghman would see the rest of the night as McCracken added another in the fourth and kept the hammer down the rest of the way — scoring in each of the final four innings of action.
Leidecker earned the win for the Lady Mustangs from the circle. She threw for five innings, allowing just two hits, walking two and striking out two in her 69-44 pitch-strike count night. Addison Dudley started the night, allowing three hits, five runs, all earned, walked four and struck out four.
“Addison’s got every pitch, she’s just got to believe in herself,” Hayden said. “We just can’t walk people, we have to let our defense make a play, and that’s what I told Addley (Leidecker), just let us make a play. And when we do that, we’ll be okay.”
Pitching for Tilghman started with Mia Bobbitt, allowing 12 hits, eight run (four earned) and walked one. Romain came in for the last 2.2 innings of relief where she allowed four hits, three earned runs, walked two and struck out one.
McCracken County improves to 21-5 on the season and remains undefeated all-time against Paducah Tilghman (32-0). They will be back in action Thursday night as they head down the road to take on Ballard Memorial. As for Paducah Tilghman, they drop to 18-8 on the year with their focus turning to the Kentucky 2A tournament on Friday where they will take on Harrison County (23-3).
Game stats
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 11, PADUCAH TILGHMAN 5
MCHS 3 2 0 1 2 1 2 — 11 16 0
PTHS 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 — 5 5 3
WP: PT — M. Bobbitt, A. Romain
2B: MC — C. Hurley, S. McDowell
TB: MC — C. Hurley 3, L. Hamilton 3, A. Knight 2, A. Leidecker 2, M. Butler 2, S. McDowell 2, C. Cox 1, H. Kelley 1, K. Dowdy 1, O. Lee 1; PT — M. Bobbitt 1, M. Boling 1, Z. Burch 1, H. Mooney 1, S. Key 1
HBP: PT — S. Key, A. White; MC — A. Dudley 2
SB: MC — K. Cunningham; PT — S. Key
CS: MC — L. Shelby, S. Christoff; PT — A. White
E: PT — M. Boling, Z. Burch, S. Key
RECORDS: MCCRACKEN COUNTY (21-5); PADUCAH TILGHMAN (18-8)