The Polo Lady Panthers, on the strength of a five-run top of the second inning, took a Grand River Conference victory at Legion Field in Milan on Tuesday night, defeating the host Lady Wildcats, 12-3. In the decisive early game burst, Emily Smith, Shelby Copeland, Jenee Qualman, and Taylor Wanger had RBI’s for Polo.
From the pitching circle, Copeland went the complete game seven innings for PHS, striking out nine, allowing nine hits, three runs, and a walk. Freshman right-hander Cady Pauley was saddled with the loss for Milan, despite striking out 11 Lady Panthers over seven innings.
Milan, despite the loss, had positives to build on from the contest, not committing an error over the game, and getting a 3-for-3 hitting effort from Lexi May. Jordan Grey and Katie Banner each had two hits for the Lady ‘Cats. Kallie Heil and Taylor Wagner led the Polo offense with three hits each, while Copeland had a second inning home run.
In the GRC’s Western Division on Tuesday night, Stanberry clinched the divisional title with a 4-1 win over Worth County, advancing the Lady Bulldogs into Thursday night’s GRC Championship Game, where SHS hosts the two-time defending conference champion from Trenton (5:30 PM). Trenton, the GRC East champion, will come into Stanberry with a mark of 16-1. The Braymer Lady Bobcats won big on Tuesday night, 18-2 over Pattonsburg.
Trenton Middle School played a pair of games on Tuesday night against Putnam County, with the “A” team improving to 3-6 with a 12-2 win against the Midgets. Megan Spencer was 3-for-3 with two doubles and earned the pitching win, while Jena Harris had a two-run single. Trenton won the “B” game 8-7, improving to 2-3-1 on the season.
Other softball scores from Tuesday, September 25, 2018 were:
Lathrop 1, East Buchanan 0
Lawson 3, West Platte 2
Gilman City 9, Grundy R-5 8
Winston 14, Tina-Avalon 3
Plattsburg 17, North Platte 2
Hamilton 10, Mid-Buchanan 0
Albany 17, Gallatin 2
The completion of divisional play in the Grand River Conference has the cross-over games set for Thursday night at 5:30. In addition to Trenton playing at Stanberry for the title (third year in a row), Putnam County plays at Albany, Maysville is at Braymer, Gallatin at North Andrew, Princeton at Worth County, Polo at King City, and Milan at Pattonsburg.
St. Joseph Christian is not fielding a softball team in 2018, leaving the #8 seed in the GRC East, South Harrison, without an opponent, and thus, without a game to play, on Thursday night.
