Kimah Warren makes a catch in center field for Triton.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Harnett Central’s varsity softball team’s rally fell short as visiting All American 3-A/4-A Conference and Harnett County rival Triton held on to win, 5-3, on the Trojans’ Senior Night in a battle of conference unbeatens Wednesday.

“We came out hitting the ball,” said Triton softball coach Mark Whitman. “Which, that’s what I told them we needed to do, is start out and scratch every inning that we could. We knew that they were going to come back and hit the ball. And we played good defense. Made some good plays in the outfield. The strike zone got a little tight and (Aubree Bass) didn’t struggle. I thought she did her job. T.K. (McLean) is hot as fire right now. She’s hit the ball hard.”

Harnett Central softball coach Ashley Gaines said the Trojans’ bats got going too late in the game.

“Coming into it, our game was to attack the strike zone, attack strikes,” Gaines said. “That was something that we didn’t really start doing until the fifth, sixth, seventh inning. So, that kind of hurt us. But they put the bat on the ball early and that put us on our heels a little bit and we just started punching back too late.”

Sophomore Aubree Bass pitched the complete game win for the Hawks (14-4, 13-0 AAC), giving up three earned runs on eight hits and two walks, with seven strikeouts.

Senior Ashley Ellis was the pitcher of record for the Trojans (15-5, 12-1), yielding three earned runs on six hits and three walks, with one strikeout, across four innings. Sophomore Kacey Fulcher pitched three relief innings, allowing no runs on one hit and two walks, with one strikeout.

Sophomore T.K. McLean led Triton at the plate with three hits, including a double and a triple, one RBI and two runs scored.

Kimah Warren had one hit, one RBI and one run scored. Bass had one hit and one RBI. Gracie Byrd had one hit and one run scored. Stephanie Davis had one hit. Abby Miller scored once.

Sophomore Savannah Bain had two hits and one RBI, senior Ivanna Jones had two hits, including a double, and one run scored, sophomore Ella Mangum and junior Ashley Bliven each had two hits and one run scored and senior Mikaela Goss and freshman Bethany Gonzalez had one RBI apiece for Central.

Prior to the game, Harnett Central honored three seniors: Mikaela Goss, Ivanna Jones and Ashley Ellis.

Triton jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning when Byrd had a base hit, and scored on a double from McLean, who scored on a hit from Bass.

McLean led off the third inning with a triple and, after Bass drew a walk, scored on a bunt single from Warren. Miller, running for Bass, and Warren advanced on an Ava Blackman sacrifice and scored when Berkley Campbell reached on an error to extend the lead to 5-0.

Jones doubled to lead off the bottom of the third, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a base hit from Bain to put the Trojans on the board.

Mangum led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a base hit and advanced to third on a bunt single from Bliven, who took second on the throw on the attempt to get Mangum at third. Mangum scored and Bliven took third on a ground ball from Gonzalez. Bliven scored on a sacrifice fly from Goss to cut the lead to two.

Lauren Faulkner led off the bottom of the seventh by reaching base on an error and stealing second. But Triton retired the next three batters in order to end the game.

“Just a good win for us,” Whitman said. “It’s a statement win. I knew we could win, but we just have to play our game and not let the Triton-Harnett Central rivalry get in our head a little bit. It’s always going to be a good game. We could both be 0-20 and it’s going to be a good game. I didn’t expect any less.”

Triton and Harnett Central will meet again to end the regular season at Triton on the Hawks’ Senior Night on Friday.

T.K. McLean of Triton connects for a triple in a 5-3 win at Harnett Central.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Ivanna Jones gets a hit for the host Trojans on Wednesday.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Savannah Bain drives in a run for Harnett Central.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Mikaela Goss makes a diving catch in center field for Harnett Central.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Stephanie Davis steals second base for Triton.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)

Central seniors are, from left, Mikaela Goss, Ivanna Jones and Ashley Ellis.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/John Lucas)