Tri-county softball underway
By Keith Harrington
Granville, Hartford and Salem all have teams competing in Tri-County League Softball this summer and they have met with different levels of success so far.
Granville is still looking for its first win. Hartford has won a game and lost two. Salem is unbeaten on the young season.
Warrensburg scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead and edged Granville, 10-8, in the season opener for both teams.
Warrensburg led 4-2 after the first inning, but Granville took and 8-7 lead after plating four runs in the top of the fourth.
Back-to-back triples by Maddie Monahan and Alexis Brody allowed Warrensburg to regain the lead.
Hope Sherman earned the win in the circle for Warrensburg. Sherman scattered eight hits and struck out eight.
Monahan was 2 for 2 with a triple, double and two RBIs. Brody was also 2 for 2 and drove in a pair of runs. Hope Goodspeed added an RBI hit.
Megan Decker was 3 for 3 for Granville with a triple, a double and three RBIs. Maddie Wilson was also 3 for 3. Courtney Ennis had a two-run single. Allie Gonzalez added a pair of RBIs.
Warrensburg was 1-0 after the win. Granville dropped to 0-1.
In the second game of the season, Hartford trailed early but used a big third inning to take the lead, then held off Granville for an 11-10 victory.
Granville led 2-0 in the first, but Hartford scored five runs in the third. The key blow in the inning was a grand slam home run by Madalyn Benson.
Hartford led 11-8 in the seventh, but Granville plated a pair of runs to close the gap. The tying run, however, was left stranded on second base.
Vanessa Muller was the winning pitcher for Hartford with seven strikeouts.
Decker had four strikeouts for Granville.
Benson was 2 for 2 at the plate for Hartford. Brynn Tyler, Sierra McDermott, Vanessa Muller and Jessica Muller each contributed a hit and RBI.
MaKenna McKnight was 2 for 4 with a triple and an RBI. Ennis was 2 for 2 and drove in a run. Gonzalez was 2 for 3 with three RBIs. Jasmine Burch and Mackenzie Garrison both had a hit and RBI.
Hartford raised its mark to 1-0, Granville fell to 0-2.
In their next contest, Salem raced out to an early lead and held off a late Granville comeback attempt to claim a 9-6 win.
Salem scored three runs in the first, four in the second and one in the third to open an 8-2 advantage. Granville plated a pair of runs in the second.
Granville cut the deficit to 8-3 with a run in the fourth, but Salem responded with a run to extend the lead back to six.
In the fifth Granville put together its best inning of the night, scoring three runs to pull within 9-6, but couldn’t get any closer.
Bella Eastman earned the win in the circle for Salem, giving up seven hits and striking out nine.
Riley Gallagher had an RBI double for Salem. Kady Crosier added a pair of RBIs. Eastman also had a hit.
Ennis was 2 for 3 with three RBIs for Granville. Megan Decker was also 2 for 3. Gonzalez was 2 for 3 worth an RBI. Burch added a hit and RBI.
Salem improved to 3-0 in the season. Granville fell to 0-3.
Salem took command in the first two innings and went on to roll over Hartford, 15-2. Salem had 10 hits and took advantage of seven Hartford fielding errors.
Salem scored five runs in the first and tacked on three more in the second to lead 8-0 and never looked back.
Bella Eastman picked up the win in the circle for Salem.
Kady Crosier was 3 for 3 at the plate with a double. Jenna McCauliffe and Meredith Barrett each added doubles. Both McCauliffe and Barrett finished the contest 2 for 5.
Riley Kober was 1 for 3 with a double for Hartford.
Salem raises its mark to 4-0. Hartford is 1-2.
