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The Huntland High School Lady Hornets beat the Eagleville Lady Eagles 2-1 at home Tuesday for their 10^th win of the season.

In the first game between the two district rivals since the 2022 Class A state championship game, the Lady Hornets came away with a walk-off victory in the pitchers’ duel as Blair Finchum drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh on a fielder’s-choice groundball.

Huntland head softball coach Michael Tipps said his team played a good game to get a win against a team that they expect to see several more times this season in the regular season and beyond.

“Every time you play Eagleville, and that’s going to probably be the first of many times this year, it’s going to be grind. You can’t make mistakes in the field. I thought we did a good job there,” he said. “We got out of some jams, and we put the ball in play and we got down a bunt when we had to.”

The Lady Hornets got the first run of the day in the bottom of the first when Ashtyn Danley drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a groundout by Hadley Gardner, moved to third on a groundout by Jocy May and raced home on a wild pitch to give Huntland a 1-0 advantage early.

The first hits of the day for either team came in the top of the fourth when the Lady Eagles got a leadoff triple and an RBI single in consecutive at-bats to tie the score at 1-1.

The Lady Eagles seemed poised to break the tie in the top of the sixth when their leadoff hitter singled and advanced to third on a fielding error in the same play.

The next batter for Eagleville hit a line drive to May in center field with the runner at third crossing home plate on the apparent sacrifice fly, but she left her base early, and the Lady Hornets recorded the force out at third base to keep the score tied.

The Lady Hornets’ first hit of the day came in the bottom of the sixth as May hit an infield single with one out in the frame.

May then stole second and moved to third on a throwing error on the same play, but consecutive strikeouts ended the inning and stranded her at third as the potential go-ahead run.

The Lady Eagles once again got the potential go-ahead run to third base in the top of the seventh, but Huntland pitcher Danley was able to induce a groundout to end the inning with the tie still intact.

Hazel Reed led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, stole second base and moved to third on a well-placed sacrifice bunt by Kinah Mason.

Finchum then stepped up to the plate and hit a groundball to the second basemen a few pitches later with Reed sprinting home and sliding in safe to secure the walk-off victory.

Danley pitched a complete game in the victory with six strikeouts, three hits and one run allowed for the day.

With the win, the Lady Hornets improved to 10-4 on the season and 4-1 in district play.

They will next play Wednesday at home against Fayetteville City High School. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.