Trenton beat Stanberry on Thursday night in the third consecutive Grand River Conference championship game meeting between the two “Bulldog” squads, as Trenton, with a 12-0, five inning drubbing, took the conference crown for the third consecutive season.
THS, playing at Stanberry, opened quickly in the top of the 1st inning, with Salem Croy reaching via error to drive in a run, followed by an RBI single by Taylor Richman and a Sidney Lynch sacrifice fly. Trenton added two more tallies in the third, with a Sidney Lynch double off the left field fence, driving in Maci Moore and Gracyn Rongey.
With starting pitcher Ainsley Tolson working out of Stanberry jams in the 1st and 3rd inning to keep the home team off the scoreboard, the visitors put the game away in the 4th inning, as Moore, Croy, and Richman drove in runs as part of a four-run outburst. Three more tallies in the fifth inning, and a goose-egg thrown by Tolson in the bottom half, ended the contest. Lexi Whitaker, coming off of a two-homer effort in a blazing hot performance in Saturday’s Nan Carter Classic, drove in two runs on a fifth inning double, barely missing a grand slam homer by inches.
In addition to the first and third inning chances, each with two runners on base, Stanberry had a chance to crack Tolson’s scoreless streak in the fourth inning, but with runners on first and second, a groundball to third base was fielded cleanly by senior Mykah Hurley, who stepped on the base and fired across the diamond to Lynch to complete a double play.
In the championship game, Tolson allowed three hits and struck out three in the five-inning shutout. Richman was 2 for 3 with three RBI’s, with Croy 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI’s, and Moore 1 for 1 with four runs scored and an RBI.
The Trenton victory at Stanberry was part of a softball GRC “Crossover” night dominated by the eastern division, with a 7-0 record in their road trips “to the west”.
Putnam County defeated Albany 5-3, Maysville claimed at 11-2 decision at Braymer, Gallatin walloped North Andrew 15-3, Princeton won at Worth County 6-4, while Polo doubled up King City 6-3, and Milan took a 7-3 win at Pattonsburg.
In other final scores from Thursday night, North Harrison beat Winston 17-0 while Tri-County rolled over East Harrison 11-3. Benton was a 12-9 winner over Maryville, Hamilton won at Lathrop 2-0, Plattsburg hammered West Platte 12-0, with Mid-Buchanan outslugging Lawson 22-12.
The rest of the softball scoreboard from Thursday, September 27, 2018:
Atlanta 24, Novinger 0 (BASEBALL : Novinger 10, Atlanta 2)
Marceline 11, Fayette 1
Mexico 10, Moberly 0
Salisbury 13, Scotland County 0
Linn County 10, Grundy R-5 3 (BASEBALL : Linn County 11, Grundy R-5 0)
Trenton Middle School lost to Gallatin in A game, B game Trenton won 6-5
