The Trenton Lady Bulldogs stayed unbeaten, and won their second Saturday tournament of the season, winning the Nan Carter Classic on Saturday at Trenton High School.
The host Lady Bulldogs opened pool play against South Harrison. South Harrison picked up a run in the top of the first off starter McKayla Blackburn. Trenton responded with a run in the bottom of the inning when Tenna Roberts scored on Whitley Richman’s RBI groundout. Trenton picked up five more runs in the third led by RBI singles by Mykah Hurley and Shayla Woodside and picked up 4 more in the 4th. Whitley Richman finished 2-3 and Roberts, Taylor Richman, Lexi Whitaker, Hurley and Woodside picked up hits. Blackburn went the distance, going 5 innings, giving up 1 earned run and 4 hits while striking out 4 in a 10-2 triumph for THS.
Trenton faced a much tougher test in Game #2, and the Lady Bulldogs responded by going to the lead early, as Jaylen Neff led off the bottom of the first with a walk and scored on an RBI ground out by Salem Croy. Ainsley Tolson’s RBI single scored Mykah Hurley to put the Bulldogs up 2-0 after 2 innings. Richmond responded with 2 runs to tie the game in the top of the 4th inning.
The hour and fifteen minute time limit expired in the bottom of the 5th inning. Jaylen Neff reached on a walk to start the bottom of the 5th inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Tolson. That is when Salem Croy, less than two days removed from a homer that gave Trenton the lead over Putnam County and led to a GRC East title, ended the game with a walk off 2 run home run to left field. Croy finished 1-3 with 3 RBI, Neff scored 2 runs, and Tolson, Whitley Richman, Mason Hooyman, Hurley and Tenna Roberts each contributed a hit. Tolson went all 5 innings in the circle, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits in the 4-2 triumph.
In their third game, Trenton took on Platte Valley, the newly-named co-op between Class 1 powerhouse Jefferson and nearby South Nodaway. Platte Valley jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a run in the first inning. Trenton was not able to score in the first two frames but two errors by Platte Valley in the third inning contributed to 2 Bulldog runs, along with an RBI single by Taylor Richman.
Trenton picked up another run in the 4th inning when Jayden Roeder scored on an RBI single by Mykah Hurley. The Bulldogs scored three more runs to put the game away in the 5th inning on a 2 run double by Taylor Richman and an RBI single by Jayden Roeder to make the score 7-1. Richman finished 3-3 with 3 RBI and Roeder finished 2-2 with 2 runs and an RBI and Mykah Hurley was 2-3 with an RBI. Tolson, Croy, Lexi Whitaker picked up hits as well. Tolson went the distance, going 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and 1 run while striking out 6 to put the Bulldogs into the Championship game against Marceline, winning 7-1.
In Saturday night’s final, the Lady Bulldogs drew unbeaten Marceline. Trenton jumped out quickly in the top of the first to start the championship game. Jaylen Neff walked to start the game and Ainsley Tolson singled. Salem Croy, Whitley Richman and and Mason Hooyman provided RBI singles to contribute to an early 4-0 lead. The Bulldogs picked up 3 more runs in the second inning when Tenna Roberts singled to start the inning and scored on Jaylen Neff’s 2 run home run, her first on the season. McKayla Blackburn, running for Tolson, scored when Taylor Richman doubled to right field to make the score 7-0. Whitley Richman’s RBI single scored Lexi Whitaker to make the score 8-0.
Marceline picked up a run in the bottom of the 5th but Trenton bounced back to make the score 9-1 when Tolson doubled and scored on a single by Croy. Marceline picked up another run in the bottom of the 6th but Trenton put the game out of reach with runs by Hurley and Shayla Woodside in the top of the 7th. Tolson went 6 innings 5 hits while striking Out 12 to pick up her 14th win of the season. McKayla Blackburn pitched a perfect 7th inning. Croy went 3-5 with 2 RBI, W Richman, Tolson, Mykah Hurley and Ashton Whitaker each had two hits and Jaylen Neff, Katerina Black, Taylor Richman, Mason Hooyman, Jayden Roeder and Tenna Roberts all helped with the 17 hit attack.
In post-tournament comments, Coach John Cowling said, “Tournaments are long, difficult days and I’m proud of the girls for finding the energy to focus and play well 4 different times. Our depth helps us on days like this, we were able to get positive contributions from every spot in our lineup.”
Trenton, as the GRC West winner, will play at the GRC West winner on Thursday night at 5:30 in the first-ever GRC championship game. If Stanberry beats Pattonsburg on Monday night, it clinches the west title for Stanberry High School, meaning a Trenton trip to the east side of Stanberry to attempt to win a conference crown and go 18-0 in the process.
