Bailey Cooley
held the Stallions to two hits and drove in a run of her own while Regan Griffis scored twice to help lead
the Lady Conquerors to their fourth consecutive berth in the Florida 4A Final
Four as Trinity Christian Academy
defeated a very talented team from the Providence
School of Jacksonville 5-1 Tuesday night at Trinity.
Cooley (W: 16-6, 1.24 ERA) allowed only two hits through six innings in which she walked two, hit one, and struck out three. Ella Roberson singled in the first for Providence, and Kayla Burmeister doubled and scored in the third. Cooley threw 56 of 88 pitches (64%) for strikes.
Morgan McMillian pitched the final inning for the Conquerors. After a lead-off single from Kyla Jackson, “MoMo” induced a 6-4-3 double play and then a popup to third baseman Breezy Burnette, who made the catch to end the game and seal the win for Trinity Christian.
The combination of Griffis and Mackenzie Marell put Trinity on the board in the first. Griffis worked a full count and drew the walk. With two outs, Griffis stole second and came in on Marell’s line drive one-hopper off the center-field fence. Burmeister threw out Marell trying to extend the hit into a double for the third out, but Griffis hustled all the way and crossed the plate just ahead of the tag to put Trinity ahead 1-0.
Trinity extended its lead to two in the second on a line drive sacrifice fly from Cooley after McMillian reached on a three-base error.
Trinity added three more in the third by taking advantage of some defensive miscues. Burnett (reached on error) scored from second on an overthrow. Griffis followed with an RBI single to plate Alexis Ross (double), and Griffis then scored her second run of the night on another overthrow. By the inning’s end, Trinity led 5-1, which ended up the final score.
Alexis Ross, McMillian, and Linzie LaFavor also had base hits for the Conquerors.
Providence’s Grace Wilson drove in Burmeister with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third after Burmeister led off with a double and advanced to third on a passed ball. At that point, the Stallions had cut the deficit to 2-1, but Cooley then retired 15 of her final 18 batters.
Joey Trawick (L; 15-6, 2.63) threw a complete game, and only two of the five runs allowed were earned. The eighth-grade sensation held Trinity to six hits while walking two and striking out three.
The Conquerors (19-6) will face West Palm Beach’s Oxbridge Academy (24-4) in the first semifinal game at 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday, May 21. Trinity is #1 in Florida’s Class 4A, and Oxbridge is #2.
The winner will play for the state championship against either Westminster Christian (23-8) or the winner between Tampa Catholic (18-8) and Clearwater’s Calvary Christian (24-3). The Tampa Catholic/Calvary game was postponed until Wednesday night due to inclement weather.
