Opportunistic Triton gets HNAC win over Culver
CULVER — An opportunistic Triton High School softball team secured a 14-4 Hoosier North Athletic Conference win over Culver on Monday.
The Lady Trojans only out-hit the Lady Cavaliers by one, but took advantage of seven walks, four hit-batsmen and five Culver errors to end the game by the 10-run rule after five innings.
“We love the freebies (walks, HBPS),” said Triton head coach Kennedy Krull. “If they are going to give you those, might as well take advantage of them, right?”
The game was just 4-2 Triton after three innings, but the visiting Lady Trojans scored five runs without the benefit of a hit in the fourth inning to open things up. Macie Hensley and Erin Ogle both walked with the bases loaded to score two of the runs while Hannah Hooley and Lauren Snyder had rare RBI HBPS.
Triton then added another five-spot in the fifth by parlaying three hits with two more walks and another hit batter. The big blows were two-run singles by Jolie Groves and Hensley.
It turned out the Lady Trojans would need all of those fifth-inning runs to end the game early as Kaitlyn Kanschat hit a two-run home run in the bottom half for the 10-run difference.
The runs-scoring stars for Triton ended up being Ogle (4 RBIS), Groves (3 RBIS) and Hensley (3 RBIS).
PILOT FILE PHOTO/RON HARAMIA Culver’s Luci Overmyer drives in a run with this hit against Triton.
“(Ogle) is a textbook lead-off hitter,” said Krull. “She has speed, can hit or lay down a bunt. The RBIS from her doesn’t surprise me. “(Hensley’s) had an up and down season, but when she is ready to go, she hits the ball. (Groves) has figured some things out lately and is really smoking the ball right now.”
Groves also made a fantastic defensive play from her shortstop position when she snagged a hard liner far to her right in the 5th inning.
Madeline Doll and Hannah Snyder each had a pair of hits for Triton. As plentiful as the runs were, not many were needed the way Lena Doll pitched. In four innings, the right-hander scattered four hits, walked none, struck out seven and allowed just two runs.
“She has been so consistent for us all season,” Krull said of her sophomore hurler. “(Last night) was a good picture of what she does.”
Besides Kanschat’s HR, Abbi Kisela went 2-for-3 with an RBI for the Lady Cavs. Luci Overmyer had the other RBI. Defensively, Culver ended the first inning with a double play when Kanschat made a tough catch on a pop-up off the bat of Lena Doll in short left-field, then spun and nailed the runner trying to score from third on the play. Kaleigh Fritch also made a great diving catch in the fourth inning to make a put-out.
Both teams return to HNAC play in their next outings as Triton hits the road again tonight, traveling to North Judson while Culver is at Knox on Wednesday.
• TRITON 14, CULVER 4
At Culver
Triton 022 55 - 14 8 2
Culver 002 02 - 4 7 5
Lena Doll (W), Erin Ogle (5) and Hannah Snyder; AJ Hinds (L), Kaleigh Fritch (3), Hinds (4), Maegan Pearl (5) and Luci Overmyer.
2B: Madeline Doll (T), Marissa Milam (C), Pearl (C)
HR: Kaitlyn Kanschat (C)