Now that was a ballgame. It came down to the final batter and had fans on both sides of the field holding their respective breaths as the Madisonville-North Hopkins Lady Maroons and the Trigg County Lady Wildcats battled it out Monday afternoon for a chance to go to the 2nd Region softball semifinals.
Mackenzie Stoltz got Trigg County’s Tember Oliver to ground out to short with the tying run on third base and the winning run on second base with two outs as the Lady Maroon held off Trigg County 5-4 to move on to the regional semis. The nail-biting finish capped off a game of big plays, intense moments, and close calls.
Madisonville entered the bottom of the 7th inning with a 5-3 lead but having to face the top of the Lady Wildcat order. MaKenna Hendricks struck out to lead off the inning. Veyda Grinols then singled to left to get the rally started.
Livia Breckel reached on a Lady Maroon error, giving the Lady Wildcats runners on the corners with one out. Lily Eagleson singled to right to cut the lead to 5-4.
Mackenzie Stolz got one of her biggest outs of the season when she struck out Kady Fuller to get the second out of the inning with runners on first and second. A passed ball moved the tying run to third and the winning run to second, setting the stage for the final out that allowed Lady Maroons to take a deep breath as their team advanced on.
The game started like it might be a shootout as both teams got on the board in the first inning. Sadie Kirk was hit by a pitch and Mackenzie Stoltz walked to open the game. Both later scored on a single from Maggie Killough to give the Lady Maroons the early 2-0 lead.
Trigg came back in the bottom half of the first to score a run off a Madisonville error and cut the lead to 2-1.
The scored stayed that way until the top of the fifth. After a one-out single from Sadie Kirk and a walk to Mackenzie Stoltz, Sydney Skeen doubled to center to push the lead out to 3-1. A sac fly off the bat of Maggie Killough made it 4-1. NeVaeh Lindle singled to score Skeen and the Lady Maroons looked to be rolling with a 5-1 lead.
Trigg battled back in the bottom half of the fifth. With two outs, Lily Eagleson hit a grounder that scored MaKenna Hendricks, trimming the margin to 5-2. Kady Fuller followed that with an RBI single to make it 5-3.
A big moment for the Lady Wildcats to stay in the game came in the top of the sixth when Trigg County coach Monte Todd elected to bring 8th grader Addy Holley in to pitch the top of the sixth inning. With the change of pace, Holley did her job at keeping her team in the game, giving up just one hit and striking out one in the inning. Tember Oliver, who left the circle with one out in the top of the 5th, came back in to pitch the top of the seventh.
Maggie Killough led the offense for the Lady Maroons, going 2-3 with three RBIs. Nevaeh Lindle was 2-4 with an RBI. Mackenzie Stoltz did not have an official at-bat in the game as she walked four times, one of those was an intentional pass.
Trigg was paced by Veyda Grinols, who finished the day 3-4 with three runs scored. Lily Eagleson was 1-4 with two RBIs. Kady Fuller ended up 1-4 with an RBI.
A big day in the circle for Mackenzie Stoltz. She went all seven innings, giving up four runs, two of them earned, on six hits, striking out 12 and walking two.
Tember Oliver went 5 ⅓ innings for Trigg County, giving up five earned runs on six hits, striking out five, and walking three.
Madisonville-North Hopkins improves to 24-10-1 with the win and the Lady Maroons will advance on to face defending champion Henderson County in the semifinals.
Trigg County sees its season end at 22-14.
