Trimble County took Henry County down to the wire before falling 3-2 in the championship game of the 31st District Softball Tournament at Henry County on Wednesday.
Henry County, which has won the last four 31st District championships, had beaten Trimble twice earlier in the season, but had all it could handle on Wednesday.
The Raiders scored a solo run in the third inning on a Jaelynn Holbrook RBI single and went up 2-0 thanks to an error in the fourth.
Henry County (16-9) got both runs back in the bottom of the fifth inning on back-to-back RBI singles.
The game remained tied 2-2 through the seventh inning.
The Raiders pushed the go-ahead run to third base in the eighth when Emma Ginn was intentionally walked and reached third on an error only to be stranded on that base.
Micah Magruder led off the Henry County eighth with a double.
Kennedy Brown followed with an infield single.
Aubrey Kirk then singled to right field to score Magruder with the game winner.
Holbrook’s single was the only hit that Trimble managed off Henry ace Sophia Lay.
Lay struck out 10 batters but she also walked seven, including pitching around Raider star Emma Ginn, who has signed to play college softball at Northern Kentucky next year, four times.
Hannah Chilton and Kaylee Payton each scored runs.
Alyssa Ritchie suffered the loss for Trimble after giving up three earned runs on 10 hits in seven innings with two strikeouts and two walks.
Trimble had no problems with Owen County on Monday, blasting the Rebels 9-1 in the opening round.
Ginn hit her 15th home run of the season and was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and three runs scored.
Kaylee Payton was 2-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and two runs,
Jocie Stucker was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI, Shelby Wright had a double and RBI,
Hannah Chilton had a hit and two RBIs, Holbrook had a hit, an RBI and a run scored, Alana Washington had a hit and scored a run, and Ritchie had a hit.
Ritchie got the win after giving up just one earned run on five hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts and three walks.
Despite the loss, Trimble, now 21-12 in the season, advances to the Eighth Region Tournament at Oldham County, which begins on Sunday. Pairings for the tournament will be released late this week.
