Trigg County won the scoreboard for six innings in its Friday night Class 2A Section 1 semifinal against Union County. The only problem is they played seven innings.
Union County scored eight times in the fourth inning to erase a 5-0 deficit and held on for an 8-7 win over the Lady Wildcats. It’s the second time this year that Trigg County and Union County have seen their game come down to the final at-bat.
The Bravettes move on to Saturday’s championship game where they will meet district rival Webster County, an 11-0 winner over Hopkins County Central in the other semifinal.
The Lady Wildcats beat Union 10-9 on a walk-off home run by Rylee Hendricks back on March 15th in Cadiz. On Friday night, the Lady Wildcats had the tying run at second base, but Paige Jenkins induced a game-ending pop-out to secure the Union County win.
Jenkins scattered eight hits over seven innings with only four of the seven runs she allowed earned.
Trigg County struck first in the opening inning when Hendricks doubled and scored on a Maddie Smith single.
It looked like Union County was going to get out of the inning without a crooked number being hung on the scoreboard, but Tember Oliver reached on an infield error and two Lady Wildcats scored for a 3-0 lead.
Trigg County added another run in the second inning thanks to two Union County errors. Kady Fuller smacked a solo home run in the third to move the Lady Wildcats out to a 5-0 lead.
It appeared as if the Lady Wildcats would move into cruise control with the bases loaded and one out but were not able to push across any more runs.
That proved to be a pivotal point in the game.
Union County (9-8) sent 11 batters to the plate in the fourth inning. Sydney Thomas followed a lead-off walk with a single. Miley Mosley doubled home Jaylen Tackett for Union County’s first run. A walk loaded the bases and it looked like Trigg was going to get out of the inning.
However, a potential double-play ball was misplayed by Trigg which allowed Thomas to score. Miley Mendoza followed with a two-run single to center. Aspen Davis also had a two-run single that moved Union County into the lead 6-5.
Audrey Staley doubled home Union County’s seventh run of the inning and advanced to third on the throw. She would score on a ground out.
Trigg County got two runs back in the fifth inning when two walks preceded a MaKenna Hendricks single to center. However, Trigg was not able to push across the tying run in the final frame.
Fuller and Oliver each had two hits as Trigg rapped out eight for the game. In the circle, Oliver only allowed six hits for Trigg County. However, she walked five and allowed seven earned runs.
Hitting 8th and 9th in the Union County lineup, Mendoza and Davis combined for three hits and four RBI.
Friday’s game was the first in a week for both teams who spent spring break in Florida playing games on the Emerald Coast only to return to Kentucky and have their Tuesday and Thursday games rained out.
Trigg County (9-10) will play at Crittenden County on Monday.
