The Trenton High School Lady Bulldogs lost a heartbreaker on Monday night to Putnam County by a score of 1-0 in 17 innings at Griffin Field.
The game itself was overshadowed, however, by the performance of sophomore pitcher Aubrey Utley.
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Utley, who had already pitched three full games on Saturday, pitched the entire 17 innings and struck out a school-record 33 batters in the process. When the night ended, she had thrown 253 pitches in the game.
The 33 batters Utley struck out is the third highest mark in Missouri softball history. Pleasant Hill’s Samantha Fleeman struck out 44 in a game that went 21 innings in 2001 and Truman’s Tracie Tiensvold struck out 42 in a 35-inning contest in 2000. Had Trenton’s game gone 35 innings, Utley would have been on pace to strike out about 68 batters.
Utley’s 33 strikeouts also helped her surpass another Trenton school record. She set the record for strikeouts in a season last year with 183 and, after her performance against the Lady Midgets, Utley has 185 this season. With five games and two tournaments remaining in the season, Utley has already broken her own record.
Utley’s average strikeouts per game is now at 12.3 this season and bosts an ERA of 0.54.
“Aubrey did a really good job for us,” Head Coach Steve Richman said. “She pitched us out of trouble a couple of times and kept us in the game.”
Trenton’s anemic offense continued to struggle. The Lady Bulldogs only had one real threat to score during the game, but Putnam County’s defense shut down the rally. Putnam County got its lone run in the top of the 17th inning, then kept Trenton scoreless to get the victory.
The loss dropped the Lady Bulldogs to 12-3 on the season.
The junior varsity was also in action following Utley’s game. They fell by a score of 6-1 to Putnam County.
Tasha Hutchinson scored the team’s lone run when Samantha Hudson drove her in for the RBI.
Trenton will look to bounce back from the loss tonight when the Lady Bulldogs face the Gallatin Lady Bulldogs at Griffin Field in Trenton. The first pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.