Lady Hornets falter in district loss at Eagleville
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The Huntland High School Lady Hornets lost to the Eagleville Lady Eagles 6-1 on the road Wednesday for their seventh loss of the season.
The Lady Hornets faced an early deficit and weren’t able to find their offensive rhythm for most of the day as they took their third straight loss.
Huntland head softball coach Michael Tipps said his team has been dealing with injuries to multiple starters, but the players that are still out there need to show more heart.
“Right now, we’re feeling sorry for ourselves because we’ve got some kids hurt and things are not going the way we expected them to go. We’ve just got to play with a little more heart,” he said. “We still have another week and a half before the district tournament starts. We’ve just got to get healthy, and we’ve got to start believing that we can still go where we want to go.”
Hadley Gardner hit a one-out single in the top of the first and stole second to move into scoring position, but a pair of strikeouts ended the frame before she could advance any further.
The Lady Eagles scored two runs each in the bottom of the first and second innings to quickly put the Lady Hornets in a 4-0 hole to start the game.
Bailey Morris gave the Lady Hornets another runner in scoring position in the top of the third as she hit a two-out single and moved to second base on a passed ball. However, Morris would leave the game after colliding with the second basemen on an attempted pickoff, and her replacement on the basepaths, Analyn Riddle, would be stranded following an inning-ending groundout.
The Lady Hornets loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the fifth as Kinah Mason and Blair Finchum singled and Morgan Sanders drew a walk to start the frame.
After a fielder’s choice and a strikeout kept the bases loaded, Gardner came through with a two-out RBI single to put the score at 4-1.
However, the Lady Eagles got that run back in the bottom of the fifth as they scored a run off of a wild pitch, and the Lady Eagles capitalized off a passed ball in the bottom of the sixth to score another run and push the deficit up to five runs late.
A single by Sanders gave the Lady Hornets a baserunner in the top of the seventh, but she wouldn’t advance any further as Huntland lost by five.
Mason pitched a complete game for the Lady Hornets with two strikeouts, 10 hits, five earned runs and one unearned run allowed.
With the loss, the Lady Hornets moved to 13-7 on the season and 6-2 in district play.
They will next play Friday at home against Gordonsville High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

