Staff Reports

TRION— The Wilcox County softball Lady Patriots had their season come to an end in the first round of state against a tough Trion Lady Bulldog squad (16-5) on Saturday afternoon. Trion won the first game of the best of three playoff series 2-0 and took game two 16-0.

Trion 2, Lady Patriots 0

In game one, the two teams were mostly evenly matched for the majority of the game, but Trion was able to get a couple of big RBI hits to score their two runs.

The Lady Patriots finished the game with two hits- a first inning single by Chastity Stephens, and a fourth inning double off the bat of Anna Tripp.

Wilcox continued their fight right up until the last pitch, as senior Kaitlyn Harvey drew a two-out walk in the top of the seventh inning to bring the potential game-tying run to the plate, but Trion got out of the danger with a fly out to centerfield. JaMerical Marshall and Jalynn Keene were the only two other base runners for the Lady Patriots in game one, each having drawn a walk earlier in the game.

Stephens and Grace Keene both put in solid pitching efforts in the circle to keep the Lady Patriots within striking distance up until the end. Stephens finished the game with four innings pitched with just one run allowed on two hits and three strikeouts. Grace Keene pitched two innings and allowed just one run on three hits.

Trion scored one run in the bottom of the second and one in the bottom of the fourth for the 2-0 score line with infielder Darrian Jones driving in both runs.

Trion 16, Lady Patriots 0

Trion pulled ahead early in their run-rule game two victory with seven runs in the first inning and nine in the second.

The Lady Patriots gathered three hits over the three inning game- a leadoff single in the bottom of the first by Stephens, a single in the bottom of the second frame from Jalynn Keene, and a third inning single off the bat of Bailee Barnard. Tripp was the only other base runner in the game with a two-out walk in the bottom of the first.

Blakelyn Bloodworth pitched the final two innings of the game for the Lady Patriots and conceded just three unearned runs on two hits while striking out three Trion batters.

Stats were provided by Wilcox County softball’s GameChanger app account.

After a 1-8 start to the campaign, a mid-season turnaround saw the Lady Patriots win 10 out of their last 16 regular season games to clinch their well-deserved playoff spot in the GHSA class A power rankings. Wilcox finished the season with an overall record of 11-16 with a region record of 10-6.