Caldwell County is one of the hottest softball teams in western Kentucky.
The Lady Tigers ran their winning streak to eight straight games on Tuesday by shutting down No. 8-ranked McCracken County 5-0 at the Ratliff Park Complex in Princeton.
Caldwell also owns victories over No. 4 Christian County and No. 15 Henderson County in the last two weeks.
Katie Franklin threw a two-hitter in the win over McCracken, which is the favorite in the 1st Region. The senior right-hander struck out two and walked none, needing 96 pitches to blank the Lady Mustangs.
McCracken (20-12) got two hits from Loren Shelton — a two-out single in the second inning and a leadoff double in the fifth. The Lady Mustangs had only five baserunners in the contest.
Caldwell (15-10) took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Mashea Glover singled with one out and stole second. She scored when Allie Felker lined a double off the fence in the centerfield.
Felker picked up another RBI in the third when she singled home Glover. Felker moved to second on a wild pitch, then came in on a two-out single to center by Haley Stiles. That put Caldwell up 3-0.
The Lady Tigers tacked on two more runs with two outs in the fifth. Madi Choate drove a solo home run over the fence in left-center to make it 4-0. Karlie Rennison then singled to center and scored when Majah Hollowell reached on an error.
Two Caldwell errors gave McCracken a pair of runners with one out in the seventh. But Franklin got a strikeout and a pop-up to second to end the game.
Felker finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs at the plate. Franklin was 2-for-4 with a double while Rennison went 2-for-3 as part of Caldwell’s 11-hit attack.
Shelton was 2-for-3 for McCracken.
