Princeton Lady Tigers knock off Worth County Lady Tigers in a battle of unbeatens

by Jeremy Benson, Grand River Conference Media LLC

The Princeton Lady Tigers and the Worth County Lady Tigers came into Thursday night's game as the only two GRC West teams without a loss.  Princeton came into the game 8-0 with Worth County at 5-0. It was Princeton's 4th game of the week, with wins over Brookfield, King City, and Schuyler County.  Worth County was coming off a conference win over North Andrew.

With two outs in the first, Princeton's Aniston Power hit a pop fly to Megan Tracy at first.  As Tracy was about ready to catch it, Power bumped into her.  The umpires called Power safe, and Riley Clark scored the first run.  After a Kaydence Downing single, Mary Jane Renfro retired the next three hitters.

Maizy Allen led off the 2nd for Princeton with a double.  With Allen at third base, Makaylee Henke was at the plate.  On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Kristen Tracy went down after throwing the pitch.  She left the game with an ankle injury.  According to Jon Dykstra of the Maryville Daily Forum, Tracy will be out 2-3 weeks. Kristen's sister Megan relieved her on the mound and retired Princeton without a run. Worth County was able to get a two-out single from Braelyn Fletchall, but was unable to score.

Princeton broke open the game in the third inning and kept it going through the fifth inning.  Allen had the big hit in the third inning with a 2-run single scoring Power and Ainsley Cowan.  The Lady Tigers added 2 more runs courtesy of Worth County errors.  In the fourth inning, Power led off the inning with her 6th home run of the season.  Two more erros gave Princeton a 7-0 lead.  Cowan came through with a 2-run triple in the fifth to go up 10-0.

Mary Jane Renfro took the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning to try to close it out.  However, Worth County was able to extend the game with two runs courtesy of a Princeton error.

Princeton added another 4 runs in the 7th to win 14-2.

Allen went 4-for-5 on the night to earn the United Country Real Estate GRC Media Player of the Game.  Renfro and Cowan added 2 hits.  Power's home run was her only hit of the night, while Clark, Kaydence Stockman, Rachel Bass, and Evan Boxely each tallied one hit.

Downing had 2 hits for Worth County, while Kambree Briner, Audrey Runde, Fletchall, and Brooklyn Smith had one hit a piece.

I caught up with Princeton coach Mike Schmidli after the game to talk about the Lady Tigers' victory.

Princeton is 9-0 and 2-0 in the GRC West and will host Pattonsburg on Tuesday.  Pattonsburg is 4-1 and 2-0 in the GRC West.

Worth County is 5-1 and 1-1 in the GRC West and will travel to Stanberry on Tuesday.  Stanberry is 4-2 and 2-0 in the GRC West.