Lady Raiders down Barren 10-1 to win District 15 title

Published 11:45 am Thursday, May 22, 2025

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Warren East celebrates a run scored during Warren East’s 10-1 win over Barren County for the District 15 Championship on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 at Glasgow High School in Barren County, Ky. (Caleb Lowndes / Bowling Green Daily News)

GLASGOW – The seeding for the District 15 Softball Tournament pegged Warren East as the third-best team.

The Lady Raiders begged to differ.

Two days after beating hard-hitting Allen County-Scottsville to reach the championship and secure a spot in next week’s Region 4 Tournament, No. 3 seed Warren East routed top seed Barren County 10-1 in Wednesday’s championship at Glasgow High School’s Rigdon-Kiser Field.

It is the Lady Raiders’ first District 15 championship in softball since moving over from District 14 three years ago and completes a set for Warren East – the school has now won at least one District 15 title in each team sport.

“Definitely coming in as the underdog and having lost some big games against the opponents, Allen County and Barren, but we were coming in with our heads up and some good hits behind us after playing some strong teams before we got here,” Warren East coach Jennifer Brooks said. “So we were ready to go.”

Warren East (23-11) built a three-run lead through five innings, then broke the game open with a five-run rally in the top of the sixth. Jordan Brooks drove in a pair with a two-run single, Autumn Brooks followed with an RBI single and Tristen Lindsey capped the rally with a two-run single to boost the Lady Raiders’ lead to 9-1.

Lindsey finished with a pair of hits and three RBIs after starring in Monday’s 6-2 win against Allen County-Scottsville with three RBIs plus a complete-game victory in the circle.

“I just really wanted to win against Allen County and then just really wanted the district championship because we haven’t won it in a while,” said Lindsey, a sophomore. “I was ready. I was pumped.”

All that run support was more than enough for Warren East starting pitcher Autumn Brooks. The sophomore right-hander pitched a complete game, allowing one run off eight hits and a walk while striking out five batters.

With an early lead, Autumn Brooks was confident to go right after Barren County’s lineup – especially with the Lady Raiders’ rock-solid defense backing her up.

“Off-speed pitches were a big thing in this game,” Brooks said. “I would go from throwing something fast and change them up – throw in a change-up, and it got them pretty good.”

Warren East jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning, scoring twice on wild pitches.

Barren County (20-6) got a run back in the bottom of the third on an RBI single by Briley Aidala, but the Lady Raiders struck again in the top of the fourth with an RBI single from Lydia Jones.

Kenzie Upton and Lindsey hit back-to-back doubles with two outs in the fifth, with Lindsey picking up her first RBI of the day.

Jones came up with a stellar defensive play in the bottom of the fifth. The Lady Raiders’ shortstop fielded a ground ball with a runner on second, faked the throw to first to draw the the runner off base and into a rundown that resulted in an inning-ending double play.

“She has worked on that throughout the season, those plays, and we talk to each other and have call signals,” Jennifer Brooks said of Jones, who will play softball collegiately at Campbellsville. “But that right there was just senior leadership – knowing the situation, knowing she was back in the hole like that and it was going to be a long throw. It’s hard to coach that. It’s just something where instincts take over.”

Jordan Brooks, Lydia Jones, Lindsey, Madison Lawson – who tallied a triple and scored four runs – and Upton finished with two hits each as the Lady Raiders totaled 14 hits in all.

“It was definitely motivating knowing that we had been beaten by both teams twice,” Autumn Brooks said. “Coming in, we were ready and we knew we were going to show ourselves and we wanted to prove that we were better.”

Kaitlyn Elmore and Aidala paced the Trojanettes with two hits each.

Both teams advance to the Region 4 Tournament, which starts Monday at the WKU Softball Complex.

WEHS 020 115 1 – 10 14 1

BCHS 001 000 0 – 1 8 1

WP: Autumn Brooks. LP: Bogue