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Trinity trounces BA's title hopes
meeting at the mound
Bulloch Academy head coach Chandler Dennard (second from left) talks things over with his team during Monday’s 9-3 loss to Trinity Christian. Pictured left to right: Dennard, Kaylee Lanier, Kelcie Jacobs and Taylor Collins. - photo by RAHN HUTCHESON/Special
    The curse continues for the Bulloch Academy girls’ softball team.
    In 2006, the young and talented Lady Gators beat almost every team in their path, except the Trinity Christian School Lady Crusaders from Dublin.
    TCS downed Bulloch twice during the regular season to win the Region 2-AA title. The two squads then met in the GISA Class AA state championship game with TCS coming out on top and the Gators claiming the state runner-up spot. In fact, three of the six blemishes on Bulloch’s 24-6 record last season were from the Lady Crusaders.
    On Monday, the Lady Crusaders, who are tied for the top spot in most recent Class AA coaches’ poll, revived the hex.
    TCS used a four-run, sixth inning to break open a tied game and pull away with a 9-3 victory. The win was the second of the season over the third-ranked Lady Gators and gave the Lady Crusaders the 2007 region crown.
    With the score knotted at 3-3 and momentum shifting to Bulloch, Trinity (20-2, 6-0) took advantage of several Lady Gator errors in the sixth to dash Bulloch’s hopes.
    “We can score runs but, like I’ve said all season, we live and die by our defense,” said BA head coach Chandler Dennard. “We made a couple of mistakes and it was really the difference in the ball game. Other than just a couple of errors, we played well.”
    A couple of walks, a couple of hits and a couple of errors made for a lethal combination in the inning as the Lady Crusaders took a 7-3 lead. In the top of the seventh, TCS added two more runs. In either inning, the Lady Gators couldn’t answer back.
    Trinity pushed a run across in the top of the first and two more in the second for a 3-0 lead. Sophomore Sunny Salzman relieved starter Kelcie Jacobs in the third.
    In the bottom of the fourth, the sheer will of the Lady Gators (13-10, 4-2) seemed to overcome their offensive shortcomings.
    Junior Addie Reddick raced down the line and beat out a swinging-bunt single. Kaylee Lanier was hit by a pitch. Sophomore Heaven Hinton laid down an almost perfect bunt between the mound and first base and beat out the throw to load the bases.
    Sophomore Kaylee Dennard drew a walk to score Reddick for the first BA run of the afternoon. Eighth grader Taylor Collins popped up to short right field and Lanier flew home after the catch for the second run.
    The Lady Gators tied the score at 3-3 when Salzman got a solid single to right to score Hinton. Freshman Sallie Marie Futch drew a walk to load the bases with one out but the Lady Crusaders tightened up the defense to get the remaining two outs.
    Neither team scored in the fifth.
    Bulloch, the Region 2-AA runnerup, has two more regular-season games before the Class AA state softball tournament begins on Oct. 13 in Dublin. The Lady Gators host Briarwood Thursday and then Thomas Jefferson Academy on Oct. 8.