It was a sweet victory for Boyle County softball on Monday.

The Rebels honored five seniors — Kelly Lay, Gracie Edmiston, Danielle Roney and Channing Whitehouse and Mattie Robbins — before the game, and the seniors came through.

Boyle defeated Frederick Douglass 10-0 in five innings, with senior Kelly Lay tossing a perfect game on the mound with seven strikeouts. Robbins had two RBIs, La¥ had one, Roney two, and Ediston had two runs scored for the Rebels while Whitehouse scored once.

“Senior night is always a mixed emotion night for me,” head coach Brian Deem said. “I love the fact that it’s an opportunity to honor these kids. Three out of the five seniors have been with me since they were in eighth grade. It’s one of those mixed emotions, it’s good to see them have some energy and have some fun.”

Three of the seniors played as eighth graders, and four of the five have been playing since freshman year. Lay moved from Estill County during their sophomore season.

Together, they have combined for 656 hits, 407 runs, 95 stolen bases, 25 home runs and 355 runs batted in.

“These seniors mean everything to me,” Edmiston said. “Me and Danielle played basketball together for a really long time. She’s my best friend. It’s hard, especially with her, but I love them all. Channing and Mattie going to CCU, I can’t wait to see what they do. Kelly going to Lindsey Wilson, Danielle to Louisville, me to EKU. We’re all leaving, I’m going to miss them like crazy. I love them so much.”

Whitehouse and Robbins are going to Cincinnati Christian University to play softball, but the rest of the seniors are going to different areas of the state.

“We’ve been through everything together,” Whitehouse said. “Kelly came in and we just took her in, she was family. We’re all going to really miss each other because we’re going our separate ways after the year.”

Lay said that her classmates made her feel completely at home during sophomore year.

“These seniors mean the world to me, when I moved here sophomore year they made things so much easier,” Lay said. “I was coming from a group of another seniors, but they’re awesome. I know they’ve got me behind the plate and behind the mound, they make life so much easier on me.”

Since 2015 when they were freshmen, these seniors have not lost a 45th District tournament and have 88 wins.

This year, sights are set on another region title: Boyle won the 12th Region last year and went to Owensboro for the state softball tournament.

“First we’ve got to get district, then region,” Edmiston said. “But our main goal is to be back in Owensboro. I feel like this team wants to go farther than we did last time. I think we could’ve gone farther last time but we were mentally and physically fatigued. I think this year we’ve prepared better, coach Deem has prepared us and I think the seniors have prepared everyone else to show them what Owensboro is really like. We’d like to be back there.”

Whitehouse said that it’s pitching like Monday’s performance that will help the Rebels move forward in the postseason.

“We’re still working toward state and working hard in practice, giving it all that we’ve got,” Whitehouse said. “It just gives us a lot of confidence when they’re up (on the mound) because they work hard, they hit their spots. We’re just behind them 100 percent.”

Lay and teammate Katy Grace Chadwell have dominated innings for the Rebels and have helped Boyle to yet another 20-win season.

Deem said when the team brings energy, they’re tough to beat.

“I’ll be honest with you, as long as we’re bringing energy and we keep our composure when things don’t go well for us — that happens in every game — I think we’ll be able to compete with anybody in our region,” Deem said. “If we lose our composure and panic a little bit, then bad things can happen.”

Lay said the team is ready for a deep postseason run.

“I’m ready for districts, regions, state,” she said. “I have a strong feeling that we can go far, with our defense, our bats, me and KG as a pitching duo. We’ve got high expectations for it.”