Henderson County High School senior softball players say leaving with a state championship—after four years of making it to the state tournament—is like a dream.
“It’s just like a dream come true to have it with these three seniors,” said senior outfielder Taylor Troutman said.
She said that she was getting ready for the game at the hotel with fellow seniors Hallie McCracken and Alyse Rollings and junior Anna Kemp, and all knew something good was in the air.
“We could just feel something was about to happen,” said Troutman, who will play softball for Mississippi State University next year.
McCracken, the catcher, knew something great was in the works after catching Kemp’s semifinal pitching performance against South Warren, which she described as “one of the best games I’ve ever seen.”
She said Kemp dug in with an increased level of determination. “You could just tell she wanted it,” McCracken said, adding she was hitting her spots, had movement on her pitches and was in a groove. “You could just tell.”
Kemp gave up three hits in that game. Against North Laurel a day later, she gave up only one hit. Kemp won all four games in the state tournament and finished the season with a 25-1 record while taking home the state tournament MVP award. Her 25 wins tie the HCHS record for most wins in a season, said HCHS softball coach Shannon Troutman.
McCracken, who will play at Oakland City University next year, said the team was composed of a group of great athletes, and though they had some internal struggles during the season, they got through them and bonded over a common goal.
“It was really special to come together to have that moment,” she said.
Not many groups of seniors have got to play in four state championships as the Lady Cols have, McCracken said. Last year, the Lady Cols made it to the final game, losing to Louisville Ballard 12-4.
“We got closer and closer each year,” she said. “Finally, we got it this year.”
“It felt amazing,” said Alyse Rollings, another senior who hit the second of two home runs in the bottom of the sixth inning of the South Warren game. “We made history. We left a legacy.”
She said not many athletes are able to go to state all four years of their high school career, but she and her fellow seniors, “We got to do that.”
“To be able to do that and leave Henderson County softball on a high note, it’s still so surreal,” Rollings said.
She said she had faith in her team all year long. “I always had it in the back of my head that this team is going to be the team to do it,” she said.
After the South Warren game, though, she felt that belief grow even stronger. The team, however, couldn’t take North Laurel lightly, Rollings said, so they prepared for that game as if they were preparing South Warren.
“(North Laurel) made it to the championship game for a reason,” Rollings said.
Rollings like the other two seniors will play softball in college next year. She’ll go to St. Mary’s in Indiana. She’s prepared for that next step because of the coaches and players in the HCHS softball program, she said.
“They’re going to push you to be the best possible version of yourself,” she said.
HCHS coach Shannon Troutman said during the championship weekend, his team definitely got over any nervousness that bothered them in the opening rounds and were, in fact, making plays “that most teams don’t make in high school.”
In the week of practice leading to the championship weekend, coaches harped on players not focusing on themselves, but on the team, he said.
“If you make it about you, the nerves are going to get the best of you,” he told his team.
But if you make it about the team, the nerves fall away, he said.
Additionally, he said coaches always preach that hard work breeds confidence, and so the week before the championship, they got to work.
They were ready to play, and it showed. They beat South Warren in the semifinals 2-0. In the final game, the lady Cols steamrolled North Laurel, winning 11-0 for the program’s first ever state championship.
The team put up some spectacular numbers this season, according to Shannon Troutman. The Lady Cols had 36 wins, good for most in a season for an HCHS team. The team also recorded school records for highest batting average, most hits, most runs scored, most singles, most doubles, most RBI and most stolen bases.
Individually, he said his daughter, Taylor Troutman, set records for most runs scored in a season and career, most triples in a career, most home runs in a career and most RBI in a career.
And McCracken set records for most home runs and RBI in a season, the coach said.
The coach said the program had graduated eight players in the previous two seasons who went on to play in college—five at division one schools. He said that’s enough to derail any program. “And then we went on to win a state title,” he said.
With the Lady Cols’ 36-5 record this season, Troutman, who has been the head coach since the 2019 season, has a 155-33 record.
He credits the players’ work ethic.
“We’ve been lucky enough to have an infectious work ethic the past three years,” he said.
Troutman, McCracken and Kemp were named to the All-Tournament team.
