LEXINGTON, Ky. (WDRB) -- Ballard softball has made history.

The Bruins defeated Henderson County 12-4 on Saturday at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky to win the Kentucky High School Athletic Association state championship. They only had a 6-4 lead after the fifth inning, but scored six runs in the sixth to pull away.

Ballard became the first back-to-back state champion since Greenwood in 2007-08 and is only the third school in history to win consecutive fast-pitch softball titles.

"On February 15, I said, 'What do y'all want to do? It's hard to repeat, do you want to do this or not,'" Ballard head coach Alan Jones remembers. "'They were like, do you even have to ask us?'

"And they practiced and played just like it. This team is unbelievable. I've been around for 32 years and been at Ballard since 1999. I've seen a lot of great teams. But I can't imagine any better team than these ladies right here."

The Bruins are the fourth straight Jefferson County Public Schools softball state champion, wearing targets on their backs for the whole season as the favorite to repeat. They are 75-1 over the past two years, going 39-0 last season before following up with a 36-1 campaign this season. 

"This team as a whole is something you would search for your whole life," Ballard senior pitcher Brooke Gray, who won MVP for the state tournament and finished the season with a record of 29-0, said. "It's not even about the breaking records and the back-to-back (state championships). These are girls I will think about for the rest of my life."

Gray, who will move on to play softball the University of Louisville, saw her offense pick her up to clinch a championship. The Bruins got out to a 5-0 lead before Henderson County had a four-run third inning. 

Ballard extended its lead in the fourth before putting the game away with a six-run sixth inning. Emory Donaldson, who will be playing at John Cropp Stadium as a Kentucky Wildcat, had the highlight of her four-hit, four-run day with an RBI triple to start the big inning. Lillian Koch and Kady Dennis followed with RBI singles for a rally to clinch another ring.

"I think it's unreal," Donaldson said while reflecting on Ballard's dominant run. "It's going through all our brains, we're just trying to process this. This is an amazing team. Each one of us stepped up when we needed to and we got the job done."

But while they'll always cherish such a dominant run, Gray said the bond and ability to stay connected as a group will last forever.

"As a person, you should want what we have as a whole," Gray said. "So, I am grateful that we got to experience it."

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