The Trenton Lady Bulldogs are finished with their 2016 softball season, but not without putting a huge scare into defending Class 2 state champion Lathrop in the final inning of Saturday’s state quarterfinal at Mark Griffin Memorial Field in Trenton.
Despite three THS runs in the top of the 7th, Lathrop held on for a 4-3 win, as sophomore pitcher Brooke Huitt continued to lead the way for a Lady Mules team now two wins away from a repeat.
The Saturday afternoon contest, played during Trenton’s highly attended Missouri Day Festival, had an electric atmosphere throughout, as the KCI champions and Grand River Conference champions sent their sophomore aces (Huitt and Ainsley Tolson) to the hill, with the two matching zero’s for 3 1/2 innings.
Huitt opened the scoring for Lathrop with a lead-off solo homer over the right-center field fence in the bottom of the 4th inning, with Tolson limiting the damage to 1-0 until the 6th inning.
Meanwhile, Trenton began to show stronger at-bats against Huitt and her devastating rise-ball, putting a runner in scoring position in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, but coming up empty every time on inning-ending strikeouts.
Lathrop appeared to clinch the win with three runs in the bottom of the 6th inning, opening up a 4-0 advantage. With runners on first and second and no out, Maddy Mann singled to left, scoring Haley Berghager and advancing Huitt to third. Two batters later, Chey Cochran singled to score Huitt, with an outfield throwing error allowing Mann to score, pushing the lead to 4-0.
Trenton, in yet another superb season of softball, had not been shutout in racking up a record of 26-2, and the Lady Bulldogs, down to their last three outs, showed grit, determination, and will to avoid the shutout, and eventually, threaten the lead of the defending state champs.
With one out, Mason Hooyman singled and a fielding error by Lady Mules third baseman Maddy Mann allowed Jayden Roeder to reach first. With two on, Mykah Hurley looped a single to the outfield to load the bases. A Tenna Roberts bouncer to Huitt was thrown to first base for the second out of the inning, with that decision breaking the shutout, allowing Hooyman to score. Down to the last strike of the season, Jaylen Neff put the ball in play, and Mann was unable to make the play at third, allowing Neff to reach first base, and scoring Roeder. The next batter, Ainsley Tolson hit a ground ball to the Lathrop shortstop, with the throw from Berghager just late to retire a head-first diving Tolson, scoring Hurley, and leaving runners on first and second with two outs. A called strike on the inside corner, on a 2-2 pitch, ended the game to sent Lathrop to a Friday (11 AM) semifinal at the Killian Sports Complex in Springfield against the Centralia Lady Panthers, a 1-0 quarterfinal winner over Bowling Green.
Trenton outhit Lathrop 6-4 in the Lady Bulldogs final game of 2016. Both teams committed two errors, with Huitt striking out 15 batters in earning the victory. Tolson, for Trenton, only struck out four Lathrop batters in absorbing the loss. Tolson, coming into the contest 21-2 with an ERA of 0.85, finished a superb sophomore season with 221 strikeouts in 154 innings. Huitt, with the win, improves to 25-1, with a remarkable total of 279 strikeouts in 27 appearances.
The atmosphere at Trenton’s Ebbe Sports Complex, with band competitions ongoing at neighboring C.F. Russell Stadium and Trenton High School, did not disappoint, as Lady Bulldog, Lady Mules, and northwest Missouri softball fans overflowed the facility in east Trenton to add to a fantastic softball experience for all involved.
Among other state quarterfinals on Saturday, Platte Valley beat Norborne 7-1 in Class 1. Platte Valley will play Clopton in the state semifinals. Salisbury edged Knox County 1-0 to advance the other Class 1 semifinal against Van Buren.
Smithville, in Class 3, edged Oak Grove 3-2. The Lady Warriors will take on Warrenton in the semifinals in Springfield.
