Lady Gators blank Warren East on opening night

Published 9:36 pm Tuesday, March 18, 2025

By Micheal Compton

It was a successful opening night for the Greenwood softball team, which blanked Warren East 3-0 on Tuesday at Greenwood High School.

Senior pitcher Abigail Byrd shined in her return to the circle and Macie Murray provided all the offense the Lady Gators would need on one swing, giving Greenwood the win against its former District 14 rival.

“I’m tickled with the win,” Greenwood coach Rodney Bush said. “I’m glad to get it started in the right direction. You can’t win ‘em all if you don’t win the first one, right? So we will build off of it.”

Email newsletter signup

Byrd, who was limited to 16 games last season due to an injury, allowed five hits and struck out five with five walks to earn the shutout. The left-hander worked out of trouble all night, with Warren East stranding runners at third in three out of seven innings.

“I feel like I put a little pressure on myself,” Byrd said. “Once I was out there (in the circle) I just knew that this was where I meant to be. I was really excited to be back out there.”

Warren East’s best chance to score came in the sixth inning with the game still scoreless. Kenzie Upton doubled down the right-field line to lead off the inning and moved to third on a groundout by Autumn Brooks. Madison Lawson then grounded to second with the infield in to keep the runner at third. After a walk to Kynleigh Barrick, Byrd got Tristen Lindsey to strike out to end the threat.

“We have to take advantage when we have them in scoring position like that,” Warren East coach Jennifer Brooks said. “Looking for pitches we can extend our hands on getting fly balls, sacrifice flies and not something that we get jammed on. A lot of opportunities — it will come. The bats will come.”

Greenwood also had chances in the first five, but was unable to break through against Lindsey. The Lady Gators left the bases loaded in the first, a runner at second in the second and two runners in the third. After holding Warren East (1-1) off the board in the top of the sixth, Greenwood was able to break through in the bottom of the inning.

Callie Huff opened the inning with a walk and Murray looked to bunt on a 1-0 pitch, but took it high to make the count 2-0. On the next pitch, she swung away and connected on a two-run homer that just cleared the fence in left-center.

“Right off the bat, I kind of knew it was out,” Murray said. “She had been pitching us inside all game. She’s a good pitcher and I think I was just sitting on that inside pitch, so I was able to barrel it up.”

Greenwood added some insurance when Kate Rippy singled and scored on an RBI single by Savannah White that made the score 3-0.

Byrd allowed one runner in the top of the seventh before finishing off the shutout.

“Great defensive game, a great battle in the circle,” Bush said. “Tristan did a great job over there. We didn’t make adjustments here near soon enough to suit me. It’s a learning experience. You have to learn from it and get better.”

Warren East finished with five hits — two each from Upton and Jordan Brooks. Greenwood had six hits, two from Rippy.

Both teams return to action at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, with Greenwood hosting Daviess County and Warren East hosting Logan County.

WEHS 000 000 0 — 0 5 0

GHS 000 003 x — 3 6 1

WP: Byrd LP: Lindsey

I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.

email author More by Micheal

More Sports

SLIDE SHOW: Gators shut out Raiders in season opener

Two Lady Tops finish in top 10 at Spring Break Shootout

Prescribed fires planned for wildlife management areas this spring

Gators blank Scotties 2-0 to win season opener

Print Article