The host Madisonville-North Hopkins High School softball team took advantage of a few key errors and scored four of its seven third-inning runs with two outs Tuesday, as the Maroons took down Trigg County 12-2 in five innings. It was the season opener for both squads.
During the third-inning explosion, it appeared the visiting Wildcats had eliminated much of the threat and limited the damage when a double play ground ball by Madisonville’s Chloe Young gave her team a 3-0 lead. The next three batters would reach, though, allowing senior Kennedy Justice to knock a two-out, two-run single into center for a 6-0 Maroon lead. A third TCHS error eventually made it 7-0.
Justice, who finished 2-for-3, drove in her third of the game in the bottom of the fourth, using a two-out single to bring home Addy Prow and put Madisonville ahead 10-0. Wildcats eighth-grade pitcher Tember Oliver had a tough night in the circle. She allowed 10 hits and 10 runs (four earned) and three walks in three innings of relief. Avery Wade gave up four hits and two runs (one earned) to take the loss.
Trigg County found a little life in the top of the fifth, when Oliver (single) and freshman Kiley Slone (double) both reached to start the frame. Oliver eventually scored on a Brynlee Smock RBI single and Slone pulled the ‘Cats within 10-2 of the Maroons when she scored on a wild pitch, but that’s as close as they’d get.
The Wildcats were held to just four hits by winning pitcher Mackenzie Stoltz, who struck out seven and walked two in the complete-game effort. Trigg committed two more defensive errors in the fifth inning, leading to a Young RBI double that ended the run-shortened game via mercy rule. The Maroons had five players with two hits each. Young and Justice combined for five RBI.
TCHS (0-1) will look for its first win of the 2023 season when it hosts Caldwell County in a home opener Thursday. Madisonville-North Hopkins hits the road Thursday, traveling to Butler County. The Maroons and Wildcats are scheduled to play again May 12 in the regular-season finale for both teams.
