UNION MILLS – Rain fell at times during Tuesday’s Class 1A regional softball game at South Central High School. As it turned out, the host Satellites were the storm the Triton Lady Trojans couldn’t weather, as they fell 11-2. Playing South Central in the regional final for the third consecutive year, Triton took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The Satellites, however, rallied with a run in the home half of the frame, and then took control of the contest with six runs in the third and four more in the sixth. The Lady Trojans had just three baserunners after the first inning, and two of them reached on an error. “We knew their pitcher would keep the ball in the strike zone, and we’d have to generate some runs,” said Triton coach Steve McBride. “The last several weeks, we’ve been throwing strikes and fielding the ball, and we didn’t do that tonight. “You get to this stage, you gotta play well on defense, and we didn’t play well. They took advantage. They’re a good team. You can’t get to the regional level and then play poorly. We played poorly, and it came back to bite us.” With the win, South Central improved to 21-5 and advanced to Saturday’s Frontier Semistate, where the Satellites will play No. 8 Tri High School at 11 a.m. Sixth-ranked Pioneer will play No. 7 Frontier in the second semifinal. The Lady Trojans, who won the regional at South Central in 2014 and lost to the Satellites in the regional in Bourbon last year, saw their season end with a 16-12 record, though they did win their fourth consecutive sectional championship. “This team has been through a lot, and everything has come hard,” said McBride. “We’ve had sickness and injuries, stuff like that. I just wanted to see us win the sectional. I thought that would be great for this group of kids. It’s been a hard season for our kids, we’ve had issue after issue.” In Tuesday’s loss, Triton got just four hits off South Central junior Savanah Becker, and three of them came in the first inning. Once Becker found her groove, the Lady Trojans found themselves in trouble. Becker struck out four and didn’t issue a walk in a complete-game win. Sophomore Nicole Sechrist had two hits for Triton, including a double, while senior Kayla Kreft hit a double and sophomore Tatum Hargrave a single. Sophomore Courtney Jennings was charged with the loss after giving up 14 hits, 11 runs and two walks. She struck out three South Central batters. Tuesday’s loss marked the final prep game for Triton seniors Zoee Stephan, Heather Stichter, Megan Berger and Kreft. “We’re losing some really good seniors,” said McBride. “Maybe the younger kids will learn from this ... what it takes to be a little tougher. It wasn’t for lack of effort, and it wasn’t attitude, it was just little things.”
SOUTH CENTRAL 11, TRITON 2 (regional final) Tri 200 000 0 – 2 SC 106 004 X – 11 Triton – Courtney Jennings (L, 6IP, 14H, 11R, 3K, 2BB); S. Central – Savanah Becker (W, 7IP, 4H, 4K, 0BB) 2B – Kayla Kreft (Tri), Nicole Sechrist (Tri), Heidi Smith (SC) Records: Triton 16-12, S. Central 21-5
