Trojans reign: Lady Trojans get excellent pitching in 9-1 win over rival Pike County
Published 3:00 am Friday, April 8, 2016
The Charles Henderson Lady Trojans scored three runs in both the second and sixth innings in their 9-1 win over Pike County on Thursday.
“We struggled to start off with a little bit,” said Trojans head coach Robin Snyder. “It took them a little bit of time to get focused. Once we got focused, we did our job. We were able to get some girls in that haven’t been playing on the varsity level this year, so it was a very good team effort by everybody.”
Molly-Kate Sanders picked up the win for the Trojans. She pitched five innings allowing just one run on no hits. She struck out seven batters.
“She was just hitting her spots,” Snyder said. “She was throwing it wherever we told her to throw it. She relied on her defense; she wasn’t trying to over-pitch.”
The Bulldogs scored the game’s first run after Mercedes Harvis reached base on an error. After stealing around, she scored on a groundout by Laken Maulden.
The lead didn’t last very long. The Trojans answered in the top of the second inning with three runs on three hits. Lindsay Fox, Molly Kate Sanders and Lakin Turner all reached base. Jaicee Todd drove in the first run when she grounded out to third. Kirkpatrick singled to score Sanders and Rose Snyder singled in Turner.
With Sanders cruising on the mound, the Trojans tacked on another run in the fourth inning when Turner scored on a sacrifice fly by Todd.
After another run in the top of the fifth, the Trojan offense increased their lead to 8-1 when they scored three runs in the sixth inning. Whittaka Lowery led off the inning with the double, Kirkpatrick drove her in with a single and Sidney Armstrong cleared the bases on an inside the park homerun that sailed over the right fielder’s out-reached glove.
The Trojans (3-1 in area play) closed out the scoring in the top half of the seventh inning when Lowery tripled, scoring Fox.
The Trojans finished with 11 hits on the night and were led by Armstrong, Kirkpatrick and Lowery who all finished with two hits. Armstrong went 2-3 with one home run, Kirkpatrick went 2-4 with 2 RBIs and Lowery finished 2-2 with one RBI.
Brooke Bennett threw all seven innings for the Bulldogs, allowing nine runs off seven hits.
The Trojans will be back in action Friday when take part in the Ariton Tournament. The Bulldogs will host Dale County on April.