Like coughing in a waiting room, yawning, and Covid, hitting is contagious.
The Trigg County Lady Wildcats proved that theory true Tuesday as their 10-run second inning propelled them to a 12-2 win over Calloway County in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A Sectionals.
Trigg banged out seven hits in the inning and was helped by three Lady Laker errors in the frame.
The Lady Wildcats jumped ahead 2-0 in the first inning on an RBI triple by Rylee Hendricks and a squeeze bunt by MaKenna Hendricks.
In the second inning, Maddie Smith scored two with a single, and MaKenna Hendricks, Brynlee Smock, and Veyda Grinols each had run-scoring singles. The only extra-base hit came from Tember Oliver who laced an RBI double to right field.
After giving up four hits after she came on in relief, Hailee Jones retired the last seven batters she faced and kept Trigg County off the scoreboard.
Emerson Grogan provided a two-run single for Calloway County in the fourth inning to avoid the shutout. However, that was about it: Oliver struck out five, didn’t walk a batter, and needed just 53 pitches in five innings to move to 4-2 and lower her season ERA to 2.58.
Trigg County entered the game batting at a .301 clip and saw eight starters collect a hit. Smith had three RBI, and Grinols and MaKenna Hendricks each drove in two.
Trigg snapped a three-game losing streak to Calloway but still trails the all-time series 9-3. The win was Trigg’s first in the short two-year history of the 2A Championships.
The Lady Wildcats will play at Union County in Friday’s semifinal at 5:30. The other semifinal has Paducah Tilghman playing Hopkins County Central. The Blue Tornado beat Webster County 4-3 Tuesday.
