Lady Hornets rout New Hope in home matchup

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The Huntland High School Lady Hornets beat the New Hope Lady Indians 11-1 at home Wednesday for their 13th win of the season.

The Lady Hornets scored at least once in every inning and clinched the victory in the bottom of the fifth as they picked up their sixth consecutive win.

Huntland head softball coach Michael Tipps said it was a solid effort for his team overall after losing to New Hope on the road earlier in the season.

“I thought we came out and hit the ball well today, and we made some plays in the field,” he said. “It was a good bounce-back win against a quality team.”

Hadley Gardner gave the Lady Hornets an early offensive boost with a one-out triple in the bottom of the first before coming in to score on an RBI groundout by DeAnna Burton.

Jocy May followed with a two-out double and later scored on a throwing error to give Huntland a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

The Lady Indians scored their only run of the day in the top of the second off of a fielding error to put the score at 2-1.

The Lady Hornets continued to grow their early lead in the bottom of the second as RBI singles by Blair Finchum and Gardner along with an RBI double by Ashtyn Danley in between made it a 5-1 game.

Huntland pitcher Kinah Mason helped her own cause at the plate with an RBI single in the bottom of the third to grow the deficit to 6-1.

Another run scored in the bottom of the fourth on a two-out RBI single by May to give the Lady Hornets a six-run lead at the game’s scheduled midway point.

After the first two Huntland batters in the bottom of the fifth were retired, Gardner hit a double and scored a few pitches later on an RBI single by DeAnna Burton.

An error on a ball hit by May allowed Burton to score from third, and Hazel Reed hit an RBI single to score May from first after two New Hope defenders collided while going after the ball.

Mason then hit a groundball to the Lady Indians’ first baseman with the defender bobbling the ball for an error as Reed raced home to clinch an early end to the 10-run victory.

Mason pitched a complete game for the Lady Hornets with two strikeouts, two hits and one unearned run allowed.

With the win, the Lady Hornets improved to 13-4 on the season.

They will next play Friday against Warren County High School at Dave King Park in Manchester in a game for the Coffee County Classic. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

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