Down 2-1 going into the bottom of the fifth inning on Thursday night, the Trenton Lady Bulldogs were in danger of losing not only their unbeaten record, but giving away the Grand River Conference’s eastern division championship to the Putnam County Midgets. One half-inning later, Trenton had ended the game on the ten-run rule, putting a stamp on their first run through the eight team division.
Leading 1-0 when Tuesday night’s game was suspended by rain, Trenton held that 1-0 lead on Thursday into the third inning, when Putnam County came off the mat to score two runs, on the power of three hits and a walk off of Trenton starter Ainsley Tolson. The Bulldog offense scuffled in the middle innings, as PC held on to the 2-1 advantage.
The spark for Trenton in the fateful fifth started off the bat of senior speedster Tenna Roberts, who laced a ball into the right field corner for a triple. Jaylen Neff followed with a single to tie the game at 2, bringing a large amount of pressure off of Trenton’s shoulders. Two batters later, sophomore Salem Croy hammered a pitch over the left-center field wall for a three-run home run, as the biggest hit yet of the Lady Bulldog season sent Trenton to a 5-2 lead.
The onslaught continued from there, as Jayden Roeder reached via error, with singles by Mason Hooyman and Lexi Whitaker, and a walk to Roberts making the score 6-2. The game was officially put out of reach on a bases-clearing double by Neff to extend the lead to 9-2. Trenton ended the game with Tolson cracking an RBI single, Croy receiving an intentional walk, and back-to-back RBI singles by sisters Whitley and Taylor Richman, pushing the advantage to 12-2.
In the fifth inning, 7 of Trenton’s 11 runs were scored with two outs, while the Lady Bulldogs racked up 10 hits. In the game, Tolson went 3 for 4, Croy 2 for 3, Neff 2 for 4, and Taylor Richman 2 for 4. Tolson earned her 11th win of the season against zero defeats, allowing two runs on four hits while striking out five.
Trenton plays in the NCMC Nan Carter Classic on its home field on Saturday, hosting South Harrison in the first of four games on the day. First pitch between the conference rivals is Saturday morning at 9 o’clock from Mark Griffin Memorial Field.
Trenton, as the GRC East champion, is guaranteed a spot in the Grand River Conference championship game next Thursday, September 22nd, likely meaning a trip to Stanberry to battle the SHS Lady Bulldogs, now 5-0 in the GRC West. The western division has only six conference games, instead of the seven played by the GRC East, due to the lack of a softball team this fall at St. Joseph Christian. Stanberry plays at Pattonsburg on Monday night, with a victory clinching the GRC West title for SHS.
The Trenton JV lost to Putnam County on Thursday night 4-0, while at Johnson Field, the Lady Midgets middle school teams got the better of Trenton in a pair of games. In the “A” game, Putnam County beat TMS 12-2, while the Midgets shutout the Bulldogs in the middle school “B” game, 6-0.
