The Trenton Lady Bulldogs, in the past 15 years, have won numerous softball games in building one of the dominant Class 2 programs in the state of Missouri. Most of those wins came on the backs of strong pitching from the likes of Aubrey Utley, Chanel Pash, Scotlin Hurley, and Ainsley Tolson. Wednesday night brought another victory to Coach John Cowling’s program, but the victory, for THS, came in very unusual fashion.
In an offensive slugfest on a humid night at Mark Griffin Field, Trenton traded salvo’s with Cameron and ended the evening with their 15th win of the year, by a final score of 14-11.
Cameron took a 2-0 advantage on a long ball by the Dragon clean-up hitter in the 1st inning, only to see Trenton tie the score at 2 in the bottom half of the frame, with freshman Maci Moore launching her third homer of the season, scoring Ainsley Tolson. However, the first five innings were a struggle for the normally smooth-playing Lady Bulldogs, with strong Cameron hitting, and sub-par defense helping to push the Dragons to a 6-2 lead after 3 1/2 innings.
Facing the prospect of a second loss to a Midland Empire Conference team, Trenton shored up its game in the final three innings, with the Lady Bulldogs potent offense hammering the softball in a comeback effort. Sidney Lynch, leading off the home 4th, hit her third homer of the season. Five more runs would follow Lynch’s blast, with three Cameron walks and an RBI single by senior Ashten Whitaker playing key roles in the Bulldog surge.
However, the Dragons, down 8-6, did not stay down, scoring five runs in the top of the 5th inning to claim an 11-8 lead. One more Trenton rally, this time a six-run bottom of the 5th, flipped the lead to the Bulldogs for the final time on the night, 14-11. In the pivotal 5th inning rally, Jayden Roeder had an RBI double, Mykah Hurley an RBI single, Maci Moore an RBI double, and Salem Croy a two-run single for the Lady Bulldogs.
This time, with a three-run lead, Trenton slammed the door on the Dragons, with only one CHS batter reaching base in the final two innings, with Tolson completing the 7-innings with five strikeouts.
Cameron came into the game with confidence, having won at St. Joseph Benton on Tuesday night, downing the only team to saddle Trenton with a loss this season.
While not 100 percent pleased with the Lady Bulldogs Wednesday night performance, Cowling praised his team for “doing the little things in the end to win the game”. The Trenton coach also gave Cameron “a lot credit for continuing to put the ball in play against Ainsley”, admitting that “this was easily our worse game of the season defensively”.
The Lady Bulldogs will continue their busy stretch of softball in the late summer humidity, hosting the Stanberry Lady Bulldogs in the Grand River Conference game. First pitch tonight (Thursday night) is 5:30, with pregame at 5:15 on Hot Country Z 101.7.
Other GRC ‘cross-over’ games tonight will be King City (West #2) at Putnam County (East #2), Braymer (West #3) at Gallatin (East #3), Worth County (West #4) at Maysville (East #4), Albany (West #5) at South Harrison (East #5), North Andrew (West #6) at Milan (East #6), and Pattonsburg (West #7) at Princeton (East #7).
The Trenton junior varsity played a vastly different game from their varsity counterparts, with McKayla Blackburn and Jillian Nichols combining for a four-inning perfect game in a 4-0 win over the Cameron Dragons. THS jumped on the Dragons early, scoring three runs in the first inning. Blackburn dominated for the Bulldogs, pitching three innings and striking out all nine batters she faced.
