Winning Second District softball championships is almost second nature for the McCracken County Lady Mustangs. Their 11th straight district title was won on Thursday night in 10-2 dominance over Paducah Tilghman, marking their long-standing dominance in the district and the region.
In those 11 district championship games, McCracken County and Paducah Tilghman have faced off each year with the Lady Mustangs posting a dominant 102 runs to the 11 runs for the Lady Tornado.
And, while Thursday night’s win marks history for the McCracken softball program, for head coach Tony Hayden, the win is just another step in the right direction for his 2025 squad.
“You start the season hoping to be in this situation and after starting with a team as young as we’ve got, we’ve seen them all improve,” Hayden said. “You’ve seen that we can go deep into this bench, and they can all swing the bat. The highlight of all of this is seeing them perform how they did tonight.”
After an uncharacteristic loss early in the season to Marshall County and some tough out-of-state losses over Spring Break, the Lady Mustangs have found their stride. They have won their last 12 games and boast a 29-5 record heading into the First Region tournament next week.
Thursday night’s win saw excellent pitching from junior Addley Leidecker, going all seven innings, allowing six hits, two earned runs and one strikeout on a 104-73 pitch-strike count. Opposite her was senior Mia Bobbitt, who allowed nine hits, seven runs (five earned), walked one and struck out two, with Adrienne Romain allowing three hits, three runs (one earned), walked one and struck out two.
At the plate, the Lady Mustangs strung together 12 hits for 10 runs and eight RBI, seeing production from six different athletes. Savannah McDowell and McKenzie OBrien were perfect with bats in hand, both going 3-for-3 with McDowell scoring a run and tacking on an RBI, while OBrien added another RBI. Leidecker added three RBI of her own.
“We got a great pitching performance from Addley, and we scored in every inning,” Hayden said. “As a coach, you can’t ask for anything more than that right there.”
Those innings saw solo runs in four of the seven innings sandwiched between a pair of three-run innings in the second and sixth. Paducah Tilghman found offensive success in the fifth and seventh innings.
Highlights from the night include a home run from each team. Tilghman’s Zoe Burch dropped the first bomb in the fifth with her solo homer over the center field fence. Ava Knight answered back in the fifth with one of her own at nearly the same spot over the fence.
With the district tournaments now complete, both programs will turn their attention to the First Region tournament set for Graves County High School starting Monday. Both teams will learn who they will face on Friday morning after the draw.
“We are right were we need to be heading into the regional tournament,” Hayden said.
MCCRACKEN COUNTY 10, PADUCAH TILGHMAN 2
PTHS 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 — 2 6 2
MCCR 1 3 1 1 1 3 X — 10 12 0
2B: MC — S. McDowell 2, A. Leidecker
3B: PT — A. White
HR: MC — A. Knight; PT — Z. Burch
TB: MC — S. McDowell 5, A. Knight 4, M. OBrien 3, O. Lee, A. Leidecker 2, K. Dowdy 1; PT — Z. Burch 5, A. White 3, A. Romain 1, C. McMinn 1, M. Bobbitt 1
SB: MC — K. Dowdy; PT — A. Romain
E: PT — M. Bobbitt, M. Boling
RECORDS: MCCRACKEN COUNTY (29-5); PADUCAH TILGHMAN (22-12)