The Trenton Lady Bulldogs beat the Milan Lady Wildcats in a Grand River Conference Eastern Division game on Tuesday night, 15-0, in a game ended via the run rule in the bottom of the 4th inning. Trenton, a talented and veteran team having won the GRC title in the past two years, proved to be too much for a Lady Wildcat side heavy of freshmen, but low on experience.
Ainsley Tolson continued to throw lockdown softball for THS, with four perfect innings for the Lady Bulldogs, striking out the side in the third inning as part of a six-strikeout night.
Trenton’s offense got too Milan freshman right-hander Cady Pauley early, with a Maci Moore triple and Salem Croy two-run homer, on back-to-back first inning at-bats, giving THS a 3-0 advantage. Taylor Richman followed with a double, and was driven home on a single by a dropped fly ball off the bat of McKayla Blackburn.
In the 2nd inning, Mykah Hurley led off with a triple for THS, followed by a Moore RBI single. Salem Croy, on a dropped fly ball, reached second base, while Moore scored on a wild pitch, and Croy scored on a fielding error, leaving Trenton up 7-0.
Three more runs, in a third inning rally ignited by a leadoff triple off the bat of Chandler Lynch, sent the Trenton advantage to 10-0, before five more runs followed in the 4th, as Maci Moore cleared the bases with a ringing double. A single by Lexi Whitaker scored courtesy runner Gracyn Rongey with the final run of the contest.
Trenton, now 11-1 on the season and 6-0 in GRC East play, will make up a rainout at Gallatin on Thursday night, needing a win to run the program’s winning streak in GRC play to 23 consecutive games. Trenton appears headed to another appearance in the GRC championship game, on Thursday, September 27th at 5:30 PM, at the home field of the GRC West winner, potentially Stanberry for the third consecutive year.
Milan, now 1-6 overall and 1-4 in GRC play, travels to Eagleville on Thursday night to play the North Harrison Shamrocks, before heading back to Trenton on Saturday to participate in the Nan Carter Classic at Trenton High School.
There was no JV game on Tuesday night, due to lack of numbers for Milan. The Trenton Middle School girls moved to 1-6 on the season with a 14-0 over the Lady Wildcats at Johnson Field.
Megan Spencer was the top hitter and pitcher on the night for TMS, with a 4 for 4 night “with the stick”, with a pair of doubles and a pair of triples. Spencer pitched a complete game shutout.
Jena Harris was 2 for 2 for the Trenton girls, with two stolen bases and a run scored. The TMS girls host Hamilton on Thursday night.
The Princeton Lady Tigers have built GRC momentum over the past 24 hours, back up Monday night’s 12-2 win over Milan with a 7-6 win over visiting Polo on Tuesday night at Gerald Gentry Field.
A Livi Binkley RBI single in the 5th inning scored the eventual game-winner for the Lady Tigers, now 2-4 in GRC East play.
Polo took an early lead in the game at Princeton, scoring the game’s first win on a Lauren Krohn wild pitch in the 1st inning. Krohn, despite struggling early, found a solid groove late, with she and the Tigers rallying for the win. The freshman righty went seven innings for PHS, allowing six runs on only five hits, striking out 10 Lady Panthers.
Shelby Copeland took the loss for Pol, giving up seven runs and 11 hits over six innings, with ten punch outs and no walks.
Mary Copeland had a third inning homer for the Panthers, with Lacie Lewis, Lindsey Batson, Jasmine Allen, and Binkley all collecting “multiple” hits on an 11 hit night for the Tiger offense.
Princeton looks for three conference wins in four nights on Thursday, hosting the Maysville Lady Wolverines in a 5:30 first pitch.
In a “Battle of Bulldogs” from Bethany, Gallatin avoided the upset bug against South Harrison, scored twice in the sixth inning to take a 9-8 lead, and an insurance run in the 7th, winning 10-8.
Both teams scored three runs in the first inning, and Gallatin led 7-4 heading into the bottom of the 4th inning, when Gallatin surged with four tallies to claim an 8-7 lead.
Important in Gallatin’s comeback was the superb relief work of Karley Salmon, who twirled 3 2/3 innings of one-hit shutout softball, striking out two. Starting pitcher Caragan Baker went 3 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and eight runs, six earned. One night after committing eight errors in a 12-2 loss at Mid-Buchanan, the Gallatin defense was not perfect, but it was improved, with only three miscues to South Harrison’s four.
Zoe Bradford had three hits and three RBI’s for GHS, with Baker going 3 for 5, Shubert 3 for 4 (with 3 RBI’s), and Salmon 3 for 5 with three runs scored and two RBI’s. Maddie Michael scored twice and Essie Williamson had two hits for the visitors from Gallatin.
May had four RBI’s and two hits, with Jennings and Ragan each scoring twice for South Harrison.
The other scheduled game for Tuesday night in the GRC East never started, with persistent storms along the state line striking Unionville, postponing the Putnam County home game with Maysville to a later date.
In GRC Western Division play, Albany downed Braymer 8-1, Worth County was a 6-4 victor over King City, while Stanberry ripped Pattonsburg, 10-0.
Other scores from Tuesday, September 18, 2018 were:
East Harrison 15, Winston 4
Grundy R-5 10, Tri-County 9 (BASEBALL : Grundy R-5 15, Tri-County 0)
North Harrison 2, Platte Valley 1
Marceline 10, Westran 0
Mid-Buchanan 12, Cameron 2
Chillicothe 11, Maryville 3
East Buchanan 13, Stewartsville 3
Lathrop 4, Oak Grove 2
Plattsburg 12, St. Teresa’s Academy 1
