Greene and B-G huddle up prior to the next at-bat. (Photo by Morgan Golliver)

GREENE – The Greene Trojans softball team concluded another successful regular season to prepare for the first round of the MAC playoffs held on Tuesday afternoon. The Trojans finished 8-1 in the conference and 10-3 overall. On Tuesday, they hosted Bainbridge-Guilford, who sits in third place.

Greene shutout B-G 3-0 to advance to the MAC Championship against Deposit-Hancock. This was the second time Greene has defeated the Bobcats this season after handing them their first loss in mid-April.

Greene got on the board with an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. McKenzie Scott lead off with a walk and stole two bases before scoring on a passed ball. Greene was able to hang on to that lead by phenomenal pitching by Payton Yahner and great defensive work. Yahner had struck out 12 straight batters before B-G made contact in the field.

Greene added on insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth inning on a two-out rally. Payton Yahner got the rally going with a single to center before Kenzie Button followed after with an infield single to the second baseman. Payton and Kenzie both scored on Abby Yahner’s two-run double, setting up a comfortable 3-0 lead.

B-G finally got a hit off Payton in the top of the sixth inning as Breanna Casey hit a hard ball to center that just passed the middle of the infield. The Bobcats tried to get something going in their final at-bats in the seventh inning with runners on the corners off an error and a single. They would fail to score as Yahner and the Trojans defense stood their ground.

Yahner finished the game with 15 strikeouts. Celeste Baldwin pitched 6.1 innings before being replaced by Gabriella Cuozzo with one out in the bottom of the sixth. Baldwin and Cuozzo combined with eight strikeouts.

Greene (11-3) faces a tough Deposit-Hancock team on Thursday for the MAC Championship in Deposit.

Box Score:

Runs by Inning: R H E

B-G:

0-0-0-0-0-0-0 0 2 1

Greene:

1-0-0-0-2-0-X 3 5 2