GHS girls earn share of their first ever GRC softball title

Gallatin softballers plowed their way through a brutal six-games-in-six-days schedule, but in the end saw nothing but sunshine at the end of the tunnel.

While Gallatin was home Tuesday in the process of beating King City, Albany was finding a way to knock off Maysville in Albany. The Lady Warriors upended the Lady Wolverines, 3-2, to force a three-way tie for the Grand River Conference softball championship. Gallatin, now with a five-game win streak and best-ever record of 16 wins against 4 losses, claimed a share of that crown with an 11-0 victory over the Lady Wildkats.

It took the final night of the GRC season to decide who was in and who was out. Maysville, which entered Tuesday with a single league loss, had only to win in order to take the title outright. Hamilton had already completed its league portion of the schedule after beating Gallatin last Thursday. The Lady Bulldogs needed Tuesday’s victory, but nevertheless went out and played loose and easy against King City.

Gallatin iced the game with an eight-run third inning. Brittney Hixson and Katie Jarboe each scored twice and drove in three runs in the contest. Kinsey Batson and Alyssa Strein each scored and drove in a pair. Samantha Mott plated a run in the third. Lindsey Robertson and Trisha Sprague each scored twice. Kelsie Parker was one of four GHS batters to walk and score.

Lacey Dixon made short work of the Lady Wildkats on the mound by striking out eight, walking none and giving up one hit.

Recent results will make for an interesting meeting tonight (Wednesday) when Class 2, District 15 coaches meet to draw up the brackets for the upcoming district tournament, which includes defending champion Hamilton, Gallatin, Maysville, Trenton, South Harrison and Lathrop.

Jessie Woody survived two rundowns and a pickoff play in the bottom of the sixth inning and scored the game’s only run as Hamilton defeated Gallatin, 1-0, Thursday night in GRC softball. Woody reached first on a slow roller and moved to second on Ashley Huff’s sacrifice bunt. Woody, caught off the bag at the end of the play, made it to third when the Lady Bulldogs failed to execute a rundown.

Jessica Cummings bunted to first and was tagged out by Ayrica Batson. Woody came far down the line but got back to the bag ahead of a throw. With two outs and Emily Snyder at the plate, a pickoff attempt resulted in an error that allowed Woody to cross the plate with what proved to be the winning run.

Gallatin put a runner on second base in the top of the seventh but could not move her around to score.

Dixon struck out 11, allowed two hits and did not walk a batter in seven innings. Hornet hurler Adrienne Ford fanned five Lady Bulldogs but none after the third inning. She gave up five hits while walking one batter.

In non-conference action Monday in Gower, the Lady Bulldogs scored three runs in the first inning and held on tight to a 4-3 victory over East Buchanan.

Dixon, in addition to getting a complete-game victory on the mound, helped her own cause by going 2-for-4 at the plate with two stolen bases and two runs scored. Parker went 3-for-4 with a double, triple, stolen base, rbi and run scored. Sprague drove in a run, stole and base and scored. Robertson went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in.

Sweet victory over LeBlond

The Lady Bulldogs captured their second tournament title of the season in impressive fashion as they finished 3-0 in Saturday’s Hamilton Invitational. The day’s tally included a revenge victory over Hamilton and an emotional win over a then-unbeaten LeBlond.

Gallatin’s first opponent, LeBlond, entered the contest with an 11-game winning streak in 2004 behind the outstanding pitching of Jennifer Kempf, who had not allowed an earned run in any of her starts.

Kelsie Parker became Gallatin’s first baserunner of the game when she was nailed in the foot by a low, inside pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. Trisha Sprague, swinging a hot bat of late, stepped to the plate and promptly lined a shot into the leftfield gap that rolled all the way to the fence. Parker flew around the base paths and crossed the plate to a thundering roar from a strong GHS fan contingent.

LeBlond put just four runners on base, but never one with less than two outs. Dixon pitched a complete game, struck out eight, walked none and gave up only three hits. Kempf fanned 16 batters over seven innings and also did not walk a batter.

“I was trying to do my job getting the girls to believe they could hit her,” GHS head coach Jeremy Hobbs said after the game, “and they believed the whole time they could do it,” he added. “We knew Lacey would have us in the game. We were going to the plate aggressively and looking for an opportunity, and it came at the end.”

Gallatin scored five runs in the fifth inning to lock up a 9-2 victory over North Platte in game two behind the mound work of Robertson. The Lady Panthers took a 2-0 lead after two innings but Gallatin fought back with four runs in the third.

Dixon tripled, Robertson walked and Parker drove in a run with a single. Sprague lashed a hard drive over the centerfielder’s head for a two-rbi double. She later scored on a bunt by Kinsey Batson.

Gallatin sent 10 batters to the plate in the decisive fifth inning. Dixon singled and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Hixson’s one-out single with the bases loaded scored Parker, who reached on an error. Jarboe’s ground ball to shortstop scored Sprague. Strein drove a single to left field that plated both Kinsey Batson and Hixson.

The Lady Bulldogs got revenge, and then some, in the finale against the Lady Hornets. Gallatin scored six runs in the second inning and five more in the fourth inning on their way to a 12-2, title-winning victory.

Jarboe reached safely to start the second inning. Rains followed with a hard grounder past second base. Jarboe scored after the catcher threw wildly to third following Strein’s bunt in front of the plate. Dennelle Rhodes, running for Rains, scored on Dixon’s single. Robertson bunted safely to load the bases.

With two outs, Sprague ripped a single that turned into a four-base, four-rbi hit as the Lady Hornets booted the ball around the infield.

Strein singled, stole two bases and came home on Dixon’s triple in the third inning. Gallatin’s fifth-inning barrage included hits by Sprague (1B), Kinsey Batson (2B), Hixson (1B), Jarboe (1B), Strein (2B) and Dixon (2B).

Hamilton scored a single run in the third inning and another in the fourth.

Dixon struck out nine in five innings, gave up four hits and did not issue a walk.