South Warren junior Layla Ogden has put up jaw-dropping numbers at the plate for the Spartans this season.

The Western Kentucky commit leads the state in both home runs and runs batted in this season — and her work with the bat isn’t even necessarily Ogden’s most important role for the Spartans.

The right-hander is part of a lethal 1-2 pitching combination in the circle for South Warren this season, joining sophomore Courtney Norwood to give the Spartans a formidable pair of arms who have combined for a 23-3 record so far this season.

It’s as a pitcher that most interested WKU in Ogden, but she’s determined to make them take notice of her abilities with a bat in her hand as well. It’s a case she continues to make exceedingly well since committing to WKU in the fall.

“I’ve grown up hitting and pitching my whole life,” Ogden said. “I love pitching, I love hitting. Sometimes I like one more than the other when I’m doing better in one, but I think it’s just a good mix. I think I’m a pretty good pitcher and hitter, and I work at it all the time. I probably spend two hours a day just pitching and hitting. It’s hard, but I want to hit and pitch in college so I just put the work in.

“We’ve been talking about hitting and pitching — that’s why I committed to Western, because I wanted to hit and pitch. The coaches have been so welcoming and I’ve always been a WKU fan, since I was like two months old. My mom works there, so it’s like literally home. I’ve known those coaches since I was little at the WKU camps. That was my first camp I’ve ever been to, so I bleed red. That’s literally my second home.”

Ogden topped the KHSAA state leaderboard as of Monday morning with 17 home runs this season, with teammate McLaine Hudson tied for second with Oldham County’s Jozie Lashley with 16 homers.

Ogden is four ahead of Lashley in RBIs with 56 so far this season. Ogden, batting .522 this season, also has 10 doubles.

“Layla has been on fire offensively this year,” South Warren coach Kelly Reynolds said. “She’s just a strong girl. She’s worked hard in the offseason and then everything’s been kind of coming into place for her right now. We just need her to keep going strong through the end of the season and the postseason.”

The eye-popping RBIs — Ogden is just short of averaging an RBI each game for the Spartans — are a by-product of South Warren’s ultra-productive lineup.

“Layla bats third in our lineup,” Reynolds said. “We’ve shifted her around a little bit. She was fourth and then we moved her up to third. She generates a lot of power and a lot of strength. It’s nice when the two runners in front of her get on so she can build up those RBIs.”

Hudson, a Kentucky commit, leads the state in runs with 61 and fellow junior Kinleigh Russell is sixth with 48 runs scored this year — rest assured, a good many times both of them were driven in by Ogden.

“It just feels like my work has paid off throughout the preseason,” Ogden said. “It just feels nice, leading the state in those categories. And I wouldn’t be leading the state in RBIs if my teammates weren’t getting on base.”

The home runs are more of a solo effort of Ogden, who has shown off easy power throughout her high school career — she has 42 career homers since making her varsity debut back in 2021.

“I would say I’m a power hitter,” Ogden said. “I mean, I don’t feel like I hit home runs every at-bat. I’m just trying to hit line drives, and those line drives turn into home runs. That’s what we all talk about as a team.”

The Spartans have used Ogden at both first base and third base at times during her career, but Reynolds admitted she’s so valuable in the circle that it’s hard to put her anywhere else on the field even though she has the lateral speed and agility to do so.

That athleticism is something Reynolds thinks WKU will have to consider when Ogden joins the program in 2026 after graduating from South Warren.

“I really think they may look at some way to get her in offensively too,” Reynolds said. “In college you don’t see a whole lot of pitchers that are hitters as well, but I think in Layla’s case she could definitely be a benefit for them offensively as well.”

In the circle, Ogden continues to dominate opposing lineups. She is 9-1 in 11 starts for the Spartans, posting a stellar 1.36 ERA through 56 2/3 innings with 72 strikeouts.

Ogden has played a huge role in South Warren (26-3) maintaining the No. 1 spot in the Kentucky Softball Coaches Association state poll and building KHSAA’s top RPI (.70253) number as of Monday.

The postseason is just two weeks away, and the Spartans have high expectations. Among them is a return trip to the Region 4 tournament, hosted at the WKU Softball Complex — Ogden’s future home field. South Warren is the defending region champions.

“It’s so surreal that I’m going to be playing there,” Ogden said. “When we go to region, I feel it a little bit but I feel like when I step on campus and play for them it’s going to be amazing because I’m a big fan.”

Right now, Ogden is focused on helping South Warren reach its ultimate goal of winning the program’s first-ever state championship. This close-knit group of Spartans is the squad Ogden believes can do just that.

“Our No. 1 goal is to win state,” Ogden said. “We’ve gotten close a couple years and we just want to finish.”