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Gallatin’s Lady Bulldogs rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat Hamilton, 5-2, on Saturday and win their third district title in as many seasons.
The Lady Bulldogs’ state quest continues Thursday (postponed from today) at Mid-Buchanan High School, where they will meet the host Lady Dragons in the Class 2 sectional round at 4:30 p.m. Mid-Buchanan defeated West Platte, 4-0, to win District 16.
Gallatin will seek to turn the tables on Mid-Buchanan after suffering losses of 5-4 and 6-3 to the Lady Dragons over the course of the season. Today’s sectional winner will face the winner of the sectional game between Westran (13-8) and Carrollton (18-7) on Saturday at Danner Park in Chillicothe.
Gallatin 5, Hamilton 2
Both Gallatin and Hamilton reached the finals the hard way after participating in perhaps the wildest night of softball ever seen on Hamilton’s field.
Gallatin needed extra innings to defeat #1 seed Trenton on Thursday. Hamilton nursed a 6-2 lead over South Harrison into the sixth inning, only to lose it in the seventh when the Lady Bulldogs scored five times. The Lady Hornets rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull it out and set up Saturday’s rubber match championship.
Maggie Strange’s fifth inning, two-run homer over the center field fence was the big blow for the Lady Bulldogs after they had battled back to tie Hamilton in Saturday’s title game. Gallatin’s defense settled in after errors led to runs in the first and second innings, and Carly Boyd kept the Lady Hornets off stride on the way to her third victory of the tournament.
Simply by putting the ball in play, Gallatin was able to take advantage of four Hornet errors that led to two game-tying runs in the third frame.
Strange came to the plate in the fifth with Courtney Ray on base after reaching safely on a sacrifice. Ashley Owens tripled with one out but was caught off the bag on Ray’s grounder.
The Lady Hornets threatened in the sixth with a pair of leadoff baserunners, but Shelby Chadwick handled a pop up at short, Boyd notched a strikeout and Kaddie Mott got the third out on a pop fly at second base.
Gallatin added an insurance run in the seventh when Mott singled and later scored on a two-out single by Ray.
Gallatin 3, Trenton 2 (12 innings)
Thursday’s semifinal had plenty of highs and lows for both teams.
Trenton notched the game’s first hit in the third inning but Ray gunned down a runner at the plate with a relay throw. Gallatin’s first hit came by way of a Mott single in the sixth but she was left stranded at second.
Trenton loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, only to come away empty. Gallatin broke through on the scoreboard in the eighth when Mott was safe on an error and stole second. Owens produced the first run batted in with a bloop hit behind the first base bag. Ray followed with a single that drove in Owens.
The black and gold Lady Bulldogs were able to tie the game in their half of the eighth, but ran themselves out of perhaps a bigger inning. Tasha Ewing singled with one out, followed by a hit from Emily Anderson that scored Ewing after a GHS error.
Kylie Russell hit a ground ball to Ray at third and she simply tagged out Anderson trying to advance to third. Aubrey Utley banged out a ground ball to Chadwick at short. She tried to tag Russell, who had eyes for third base, but missed and threw late and high to Tolen at first and Russell scored.
Gallatin accounted for two hits in the ninth but Utley retired the final two GHS batters by strikeout. Trenton produced a pair of baserunners in its half of the frame but likewise, Boyd was able to get out of the inning with a called third strike.
Just when it looked like Trenton would pull out a win in the tenth inning, Boyd slammed them down with a big strikeout with the bases loaded.
Amber Maberry led off the eleventh inning for Trenton with a single. Tasha Hutchinson singled behind the second base bag and a scary moment ensued for Gallatin when Mott and Owens collided going for the ball. Everman made a good catch of a long drive to left field to end the inning.
Gallatin pushed the game to its climax in the twelfth when Tolen singled and pinch runner Becca Mott moved to second on a passed ball. Jennifer Acree sacrificed Mott to third, and she scored when Owens hit a top-spin bloop in front of second that couldn’t be fielded cleanly.
In the bottom of the inning, Chadwick retired Trenton’s first batter on a ground ball. Owens snared a drive to center field, and fittingly, Boyd notched her ninth strikeout of the contest to preserved the GHS victory.
Gallatin 7, Lathrop 1
Wednesday’s district opener started badly but obviously ended well for the Lady Bulldogs.
Lady Mule leadoff hitter Katie Slibowski slammed a Boyd pitch to right field, but Gallatin fielder Savannah Butcher tracked the ball to the wall. The drive popped in and out of her glove and over the wall thanks to her proximity to the fence. Lathrop led, 1-0.
The Lady Mules maintained the lead until Gallatin bats woke up, big time, in the fourth inning. Ray doubled down the right field line. Strange doubled and moved to third on the play at the plate. Chadwick reached safely on a sacrifice grounder and took second uncontested.
Everman picked up an rbi with a sac grounder to second. Boyd walked and sprinted to second to draw a throw that allowed Chadwick to score the third run of the inning.
After retiring the side in the top of the fifth inning, the Lady Bulldogs struck for four more runs. Acree walked. Pinch-runner Becca Mott made it safely to second after a Lady Mule infielder threw wildly to the bag after fielding a potential sacrifice grounder by Owens.
Ray singled sharply into center field off pitcher Slibowski’s glove. Strange cleared the bags with a triple, and later came home on a pickoff overthrow.
Butcher helped kill a rally in the sixth inning with a diving-forward catch of a fly ball. Tolen recorded a big out for the Lady Bulldogs in the final inning when she moved back and to her right to spear a liner.