A pitcher’s duel between Putnam County’s Sammi Bradshaw and Trenton’s Ainsley Tolson broke briefly on Tuesday afternoon, with a fielding error by the Lady Midgets defense on a routine ground-ball in the infield, leaving Trenton’s Chandler Lynch on first base with one out, instead of no out and two outs in a scoreless tie. Trenton’s dynamic offense, generally held in check by Bradshaw, came alive with three straight singles that followed a hit batter to Tolson, scoring three times.
With Tolson pitching the four-hit shutout, three runs was all Trenton needed in a well-played 3-0 victory over the Unionville squad. With runners on first and second in the third inning (following Tolson being hit by a pitch), Mykah Hurley drove in Lynch with a single. Maci Moore singled to score courtesy runner Gracyn Rongey, with Salem Croy’s single scoring Hurley. Putnam County, in the only serious scoreless threat of the night for the visitors, had two on and two out in the visitors sixth, but a bouncer back to Tolson squeezed Trenton from the jam. Tolson fired a four-hitter in the complete game shutout, with the Lady Bulldogs defense continuing its strong early season play with an error-less effort.
The victory is Trenton’s fifth in as many games this season, and gives the Lady Bulldogs, along with Gallatin, the early lead in the Grand River Conference’s Eastern Division race, as Gallatin won at Milan on Tuesday night 12-1. Putnam County, dropping to 1-1 overall, and 0-1 in the GRC, was coming off a 17-8 win over Scotland County on Monday night, while Trenton was coming off of four wins on Saturday in the Cameron Tournament, winning the 12-team strong championship.
Tuesday’s game was one of three to be completed across the GRC, as strong thunderstorms stayed just to the northwest of Trenton, allowing the game, broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7, to be played as scheduled, although the start time was moved up to 4:30. Polo led South Harrison 2-0 in the fifth inning, and Albany led Stanberry 1-0 in the first inning when rain suspended those games. Maysville at Princeton was suspended in the bottom of the first, just as the Lady Tigers were beginning their at-bats in the anticipated GRC opener for both schools.
Other softball finals from the region on Tuesday night were:
DeKalb 11, King City 2
Lathrop 4, Maryville 2
Stewartsville 11, Winston 1
Salisbury 13, Carrollton 0
Macon 19, Hallsville 2
Marion County 15, Novinger 0
