Pickle Winkler launched her fifth home run of the year in the sixth inning, but that’s all the state’s No. 15-ranked Christian County High School softball team could muster in a 4-1 loss Monday at Calloway County.
Winkler, a University of Louisville commit, went 2-for-3 and accounted for half of her squad’s hits in the road defeat. Lakers starting pitcher Emerson Grogan (3-2), who had given up 20 earned runs in 27 innings pitched coming in, was dynamite in the circle. She struck out four and walked just one in the complete-game victory.
The teams exchanged scoreless frames through three innings before Calloway broke through with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Lakers got consecutive singles to open the half-inning, then struck for a pair of two-out runs on a triple from Kylie Stallings.
Calloway County (19-8), which has now won seven of its last nine games, added an insurance run in the fifth on an RBI groundout by Attie Lax, and countered Winkler’s solo home run in the sixth with a Stallings RBI single to left field. Hitting eighth in her team’s lineup, Stallings had a monster night, going 2-for-3 with the triple and three RBIs. Adison Hicks added two hits atop the Laker order.
Gracie Harned (8-5) pitched all six innings in the loss. She struck out three, walked one and surrendered eight hits. Christian County committed four errors in the contest, making just half of Harned’s four allowed runs earned.
Christian County (18-8) returns home May 18 for a showdown with No. 18 Marshall County. The Colonels defeated the Marshals (19-10) by a count of 12-10 in the April 20 shootout in Draffenville.