The Trenton Lady Bulldogs lit up the Griffin Field scoreboard on a warm Thursday night, rolling to a 13-0, five-inning victory over the Stanberry Lady Bulldogs in the Grand River Conference championship game.
Trenton, playing as the ‘visiting’ team on its home field, jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after 1/2 inning, with Ainsley Tolson opening the night with an opposite field triple Maci Moore sent Tolson home with a one-out single, with courtesy runner Kennedy Norton scoring on a Sidney Lynch single. Lynch forced a run-down between 1st and 2nd base, with Moore racing home to score when the Stanberry third baseman moved too far in Lynch’s direction. Lynch reached second safely on the late throw to the plate, and scored to a single by Lexi Whitaker.
The Lady Bulldogs added a run in the fourth inning, three more in the 4th, and five runs in the top of the 5th inning.
Tolson pitched five shutout innings for Trenton, striking out five batters and giving up only two hits in leading THS to a season record of 16-1, dropping Stanberry’s mark to 13-5. Stanberry, the GRC’s Western Division winner, came into the game with a 6-0 record in divisional play, but off of a 3-1 ‘cross-over’ loss to Maysville on Tuesday night.
Tolson had two hits (double and triple) and scored three runs for Trenton, with Moore going 3 for 3 with two runs scored and 4 RBI’s. Salem Croy was 2 for 2 with 2 RBI’s and two base on balls, with Lynch 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s, and Mykah Hurley 1 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored.
Trenton will play in the Centralia Tournament on Saturday, opening play with Hallsville in a 10:45 quarterfinal. On Monday, the Lady Bulldogs face Marceline on the road in a potential playoff preview. On Tuesday, Trenton hosts Brookfield in a 5 o’clock first pitch on Hot Country Z 101.7.
The Trenton Middle School Bulldogs had an “A” game at Johnson Field on Thursday night, beating Gallatin 17-0. Megan Spencer pitched three innings for TMS, with five strikeouts. Savannah Triplet and Delaney Franklin each had three hits for Trenton, with Kammi Phillips, Gracyn Rongey, and Summer Martin combining for seven runs scored.
In GRC ‘cross-over’ games on Thursday night, five of the seven contests went to the GRC East, with Putnam County downing King City 5-3, Maysville a 10-0 shutout winner over Worth County, South Harrison claiming a 13-9 win over long-time rival Albany, and Princeton a 12-2 blowout win over Pattonsburg.
North Andrew took an 8-7 victory at Milan, while Braymer won at Gallatin 5-1.
In HDC action, Mercer beat Gilman City 2-0. The Chillicothe Lady Hornets won at Danner Park, beating Macon 9-4. Marceline rolled to a 15-0 victory over the Fayette Falcons. Bucklin/Macon County beat Green City 6-2.
Grundy R-5 baseball lost to Linn County 7-3, while Green City’s baseball team clinched the Tri-County title with a 25-1 win over Bucklin/Macon County.
