Gracie Gallagher

Last season the Holton softball team did something they had only done four times in school history and haven’t done since 2010 as they reached the 4A-DII state tournament finishing fourth.

This year the Lady Cats had high expectations of not only reaching state once again but also making a deeper run, after winning their initial state contest a year ago, but dropping a pair of one-run tilts to finish fourth in Salina.

On Thursday night Holton accomplished part one of their goal as they earned a spot at the 3A state tournament following a stellar pitching performance from freshman Gracie Gallagher in a 7-1 regional championship win over Jeff West.

Just like she has been all season long Gallagher was outstanding tossing a three-hit, complete-game shutout while overcoming a tough day for her defense which committed an uncharacteristic six errors in the field.

Gallagher just added to her outstanding freshman campaign with Thursday’s win and this season now owns an 11-2 record with a 2.81 earned run average to go along with 47 strikeouts in 70.2 innings pitched.

She has also been stellar at the plate for the Lady Cats, boasting a .462 batting average with 20 RBI’s and 32 runs scored.

Those statistics combined recently earned her first team all-Big 7 league at pitcher as she was the only Lady Cat to be named to the first team.

Gallagher is set to lead Holton into the state tournament which will begin Thursday, as the Lady Cats are the No. 2-seed and will take on No. 7 Colby at 5:00 p.m. in Emporia with live coverage on 103.9 KNZA.