Telegraph Staff Writer
Host Trenton scored six runs alone off the bat of Addison Allaire in handing the Union County High School softball team a 14-5 loss on Feb. 27.
Union (1-3) scored the game’s first two runs, with Angela Tucker hitting an RBI triple and then scoring herself on Leah Clark’s bunt.
Trenton tied it up in the bottom of the inning when Allaire hit a two-run homer. It was the first of three home runs for Allaire, who hit a solo shot in the third and a three-run blast as part of a six-run sixth.
The host team’s big sixth inning came after Union’s Tamia Young made it a three-run game with a bases-loaded double that scored all three base runners.
Young finished 3 for 3, while Tucker went 2 for 4. The rest of the team combined for one hit.
Union entered the game off a pair of one-run losses, beginning with a 5-4 in eight-inning affair against visiting Baker County on Feb. 23.
A two-run homer by Young put the Tigers ahead 4-1 in the bottom of the second, but the Wildcats would eventually tie the score with two runs in the fourth and one in the sixth.
Union had a chance to score in the bottom of the sixth when Hayley Burke and Campbell Webb drew walks to put two on with one out. Two straight strikeouts ended the inning.
An error allowed Baker to put a runner on with one out in the top of the eighth. A single and a sacrifice fly scored her, putting the Wildcats up 5-4.
The Tigers put two on with one out in the bottom of the inning when Burke walked and Webb singled. Burke was later caught stealing third, while a strikeout ended the game.
Young went 2 for 4 with two RBI. Clark and Hannah Rivera each drove in one run, with Clark’s coming off a double in the first inning.
Pitcher Lily Neal allowed seven hits and one earned run.
On Feb. 24, Union failed to score with the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the seventh, losing 3-2 to visiting Branford.
With one out in the final inning, Young drew a walk. Tucker and Clark then hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Two straight strikeouts ended the game.
Clark, Tucker and Young had all of Union’s hits, with Clark and Tucker each going 3 for 4 and Young going 2 for 2. Tucker had one RBI off a triple in the fifth inning.
Branford’s leadoff batter in the top of the first reached on an error and later scored on an error.
With the game tied at 1-1, Branford scored two in the fourth on an error.
Neal gave up four hits in 4.1 innings, while Shyla Crowe gave up one hit in the final 2.2 innings.
Union next travels to play Baker County on Tuesday, March 7, at 6:30 p.m.
