JUST PERFECT

Tolson Throws Perfect Game, Trenton Wins 4-0

On Trenton High School pitcher Ainsley Tolson’s first pitch of the final inning on Thursday at Griffin Field, her Polo Panther counterpart in the batter’s box unleashed a vicious swing with bad intentions for the Bulldogs.
The result?
A soft liner that floated into Tolson’s waiting glove. As the 19th-straight Polo player to record an out trudged back to the dugout, she could do nothing but stretch her arms out and look at her coach as if to say “I don’t know what else I can do.”
It was that kind of night for the visiting Panthers. Tolson would retire the next two Polo batters as well, capping a seven-inning perfect game and a 4-0 victory for the Trenton Bulldogs.
“She just worked the corners and the change-up worked really well,” Trenton Head Coach John Cowling said. “All five pitches that we threw, they all worked and the defense was perfect behind her, too.”
The defense was what Tolson wanted to talk about after the game as well. Never mind the fact that the Trenton senior struck out over half the batters coming to the plate (she had 11 in the game). In her typical style, she pushed credit elsewhere.
“This one was like more of a team game,” Tolson said. “I don’t feel like I really did that much, honestly, because we had a lot of defensive plays and it wasn’t like a crazy amount of strikeouts, really. We played really good defense together.”
Tolson threw 80 pitches in the game with 60 being for strikes.
The perfect game was the second seven-inning perfect game for Tolson, who also yielded no baserunners of any kind against Lexington in a 3-0 district championship-clinching win in 2016 as a sophomore.
While Tolson was locking up Polo’s offense, Trenton’s offense was able to break through in two innings to reach the four-run tally that was plenty enough to win on this night.
Tolson drove in Trenton’s first run in the third inning, doubling to score Chandler Lynch. Maci Moore followed with a double of her own to trade places with Tolson and put the Bulldogs up 2-0. In the fifth frame, Tolson drove in another run and scored again when Salem Croy followed with an RBI hit.
Trenton put runners on in the second, fourth and sixth innings as well, but couldn’t produce any runs.
“I knew going in that Polo just wasn’t giving up very many runs,” Cowling said. “So we knew we were going to have to get a couple (of runs) early and keep them off the scoreboard. We tried to tell the girls to stay back and be patient, but Polo’s pitcher did a really good job changing speeds on us tonight too and hitting her spots. Our offensive performance tonight was as much about Polo’s pitcher as it was our approach at the plate.”
Tolson finished with two hits, two runs, a steal and two RBIs while Chandler Lynch reached base twice, stole two bases and scored twice. Croy and Moore each had one hit and one RBI and Taylor Richman and McKayla Blackburn each had a double with Richman adding a base on balls.
The win was the fifth-straight shutout against Grand River Conference competition for the Bulldogs this year and the 10th straight shutout in a GRC game overall – a streak that dates to August of 2017.
Trenton improved to 9-1 overall and 5-0 in league play on the season.
Trenton will be out of conference play on Monday, playing host to the Lawson Cardinals at Griffin Field in Trenton at 5 p.m. The Bulldogs will be on Griffin Field on Tuesday night as well, playing host to GRC foe Milan in a game slated for a 5:30 p.m. start.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Trenton’s junior varsity made its way into the win column with a 9-1 decision. Like the varsity contest, strong pitching led Trenton to victory.
McKayla Blackburn went two innings, striking out every batter she faced, and Jena Reeter finished the game with two innings, giving up one run on one hit while striking out three Panthers of her own.
The Bulldogs had their strongest night of the season offensively, plating two runs in the first, four more in the second and three in the third.
Delaney Franklin led Trenton, going two-for-two with a triple and three RBIs. Chloe Harris was one-for-one with a walk and a run scored and Teya Cooksey also singled and scored a run in a game that saw nine Bulldogs get on base in some capacity.
“Our pitching and defense were both outstanding tonight and the offense was a bonus,” Trenton JV Coach Kameron Cool said. “I’m happy the girls got a positive result tonight after putting in a lot of hard work.”
Trenton’s JV will face Lawson on Monday and Milan on Tuesday as well.