Hornets rally for walk-off win in extras versus Cornersville

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The Huntland High School Hornets beat the Cornersville Bulldogs 10-9 in nine innings at home Monday for their sixth win of the season.

The Hornets rallied to tie the game in the seventh inning and ultimately won after two extra frames on a walk-off single by Caydon Bradford as they picked up their third straight district victory.

The Bulldogs were the first team on the board as they scored a pair of runs in the top of the first inning.

The Hornets answered back quickly as Evan Keller hit an RBI single for their first run of the day in the bottom of the first, and an RBI single by Eli Wiggs in the bottom of the second tied the score at 2-2 early.

The Bulldogs quickly retook the lead with three runs in the top of the third as the last of those scores came off of an error to make it a 5-2 game.

The back-and-forth action continued in the bottom of the third with Jed Ashley and Bradford coming around to score off of an error on a ball hit by Matthew Dickson, and Wiggs followed with a two-run double to give Huntland a brief 6-5 advantage.

However, the Bulldogs capitalized on a few errors from the Hornets in the top of the fourth to score another four runs and put Huntland in a 9-6 hole at the game’s midway point.

The Hornets chipped away a portion of the deficit in the bottom of the fifth when Trace Morris hit an RBI single to make it a 9-7 game.

Dickson led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple, and Wiggs and Keller followed by drawing walks to load the bases with nobody out.

After two straight strikeouts put the Hornets on the verge of losing, Ashley came through with a two-out, two-run single to tie the score. Keller would be stranded at third base as the potential winning run, but the Hornets still did enough to force the game into extra innings.

After a scoreless eighth inning on both sides, Morris led off the bottom of the ninth with a walk, stole second and moved to third on a groundout by Ashley.

Bradford then stepped up to bat with two outs and was able to come through with an RBI single to score Morris and bring an end to the contest.

Daltyn Howell pitched the first two innings of the game with three strikeouts, two hits and two runs allowed.

Kannon Lafevers faced four batters in relief with one hit, two earned runs and one unearned run allowed. Wiggs followed with four innings pitched on the mound as he recorded seven strikeouts, three hits and four unearned runs allowed.

Morris pitched three scoreless innings to close out the contest with five strikeouts and two hits allowed.

With the win, the Hornets improved to 6-7 on the season and 3-2 in district play.

They will next play Tuesday at Cornersville High School. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

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