No. 3 Owensboro Catholic stopped Daviess County 7-1 in 9th District softball on Wednesday night.

Kendyl Bahnick and Haley James were each 2-for-4 for Catholic (14-6).

Lauren Johnson was 3-for-4 for Daviess County (5-9).

OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 301 003 0 _ 7 8 1

DAVIESS COUNTY 000 010 0 _ 1 6 3

WP-Murphy. LP-Armstrong. 2B-Bahnick, Goetz (OC). Fuqua (DC)

Owensboro's rough first inning opened the flood gates for Owensboro Catholic.

The Lady Devils' three errors coupled with five base hits led to three early runs for the Lady Aces, who went on to post a 7-0 conquest of visiting OHS on Monday night at Parents Park.

"Our speed puts pressure on the opposition," OCHS head coach George Randolph said. "They made a few mistakes and we were able to take advantage of that.

"I was pleased with the way we came out ready to play, after playing five games over the weekend (at the Play It Again Classic in Clarksville, Tenn.) — it was important for us to get off to a good start."

Lillie Goetz, Brittany Murphy and Liza Brown produced run-scoring singles in the bottom of the first for Catholic, which also got a double from Hayley Frey and a bunt single from Haley James.

"The first inning really hurt us, obviously," Owensboro head coach Steve Strong said. "You just can't afford to make that many mistakes in the first inning.

"After that, though, I thought we settled in and played pretty well. We're still a young team, but we're slowly maturing. These girls never give up."

Catholic (13-5, 3-0 9th District) increased its advantage to 4-0 in the second on another RBI single from Goetz.

It remained that way until the fifth, when the Lady Aces broke the game open with three runs. Brittany Murphy uncorked a towering two-run homer over the left field fence and Jenna Ruth rapped an RBI single.

"That was a bomb," Randolph said of Murphy's third homer of the season. "One thing about our team this year is that we can score runs in multiple ways. We have slappers and a lot of left-handed hitters on the roster, but we also have some legitimate power in our lineup."

The offensive outburst was more than enough for right-hander Jessica Carmon, who went the distance in shutting out the Lady Devils on five hits.

"Jessica pitched well," Randolph said. "She's been snapping and spinning the ball well, and her change-up is coming around, which is a big key for her.

"She continues to work very hard on her pitching, and the hard work is paying off for her."

Murphy paced Catholic's 10-hit attack, going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Haley Frey doubled and singled, and both Goetz and James had a pair of singles.

Freshman second baseman Madeline Flaherty led Owensboro (6-6, 0-4) with a triple and two singles in three at-bats.

OHS is at Whitesville Trinity on Tuesday, and Owensboro Catholic visits district rival Daviess County on Wednesday.

OWENSBORO 000 000 0 -- 0 5 3

OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 310 030 x -- 7 10 0

WP-Carmon. LP-Strong. 2B-Frey (OC). 3B-Flaherty (O). HR-Murphy (OC).

There seems to be a bit of a power surge going on at Owensboro High School and Owensboro Catholic.

A power hitting surge.

......... Catholic's No. 3 softball team has understood hitting the ball to the gaps, and over the fence, as this season has taken shape.

The Lady Aces' average rose from .290 to .320 from before spring break to now. They have hit 20 doubles, eight triples and three home runs. The doubles number is on pace for Catholic's usual season average of 50 to 60.

"We knew the more live pitching we saw the better we would be able to swing the bats," Catholic coach George Randolph said. "There are 11 or 12 girls we feel comfortable putting at the plate any time. We pinch hit two eighth graders the other day. Across the board, they realize if they produce they'll get an opportunity to play.

Lillie Goetz is batting .500 to lead Catholic. Goetz has 13 RBIs and Kendyl Bahnick has 11. Brittany Murphy has hit a two-run home run.

Goetz, a sophomore shortstop, hit for the cycle in Catholic's 9-3 win over Owensboro on Tuesday.

"She is compact, stays short to the ball, and she is powerful," Randolph said. "She swims in the offseason and does all our conditioning, so she is in good shape. She is always hitting (in the cage), so she is confident when she goes up there. She is quick and she runs the bases well."

Catholic records 9-3 win at Shifley Park

Lillie Goetz has started hitting with authority.

The sophomore hit for the cycle to lead Owensboro Catholic to a 9-3 win over Owensboro on Tuesday at Shifley Park.

Goetz cranked a two-run home run in the first inning after Olivia Foster singled to lead off No. 3 Catholic's first turn at the plate. Goetz hit the first of two doubles in the second inning, the second coming from Kandyl Bahnick which scored Goetz.

Goetz grounded out in the fourth, but came back with a triple to right field in the sixth and she scored on Lindsey Barr's single. Goetz hit a single in the seventh inning to complete her hitting cycle.

"We're finally starting to string some stuff together that we hadn't been doing before," Catholic coach George Randolph said. "Lillie Goetz has been swinging the bat well. She has two home runs now. She hit one at the Bob Jones Invitational (in Alabama), had two doubles and a 3-run homer. She was one of our top returning hitters."

Lindsey Barr got four at-bats and had two singles and a sacrifice fly to finish with two RBIs. Bahnick also finished with two RBIs.

Catholic (8-4) pounded out 16 hits.

"We got contributions from a lot of kids," Randolph said. "We're swinging the bats well enough to score enough runs and put pressure on people. This was a good win for us."

Owensboro answered Catholic's first-inning shot with one of its own. The Lady Devils' Erica Curtis cranked a 2-run homer with Madeline Flaherty on to tie the game 2-2.

The Lady Devils, who went 4-1 on their Florida trip during spring break, left the bases loaded in the fifth inning or they could've applied more pressure to Catholic.

OHS (6-4) was dealing with a tough 7-6 loss in eight innings to Daviess County on Monday.

"We didn't have as much intensity," OHS coach Steve Strong said. "We still didn't give up. We're doing great things. We came back from five runs down in a game in Florida."

Flaherty hit three singles and collected an RBI for the Lady Devils.

OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 203 102 1 _ 9 16 0

OWENSBORO 200 000 1 _ 3 8 0

WP-Murphy. LP-Strong. 2B-Goetz, Bahnick (C). Tutt (O). 3B-Goetz (C). HR-Goetz (C). Curtis (O).