Hornets drop district eliminator to Cornersville in extra innings
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The Huntland High School Hornets lost to the Cornersville Bulldogs 4-2 in 10 innings at Eagleville Friday in an elimination game for the District 9A tournament.
The Hornets took an early lead but gave up a tying run in the fifth inning off of an error, and the Bulldogs would ultimately break the tie after three extra innings to end Huntland’s season.
The Bulldogs were the first team on the board as their leadoff batter walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored on an RBI groundout to quickly make it a 1-0 game.
The Hornets responded by scoring their only two runs of the day in the bottom of the first as Eli Wiggs crossed home plate on an RBI groundout hit by Trace Morris and Evan Keller scored off of an error to give Huntland a 2-1 advantage.
The Bulldogs put runners in scoring position in the second and third innings, but Huntland pitcher Wiggs was able to hold them off of the board both times.
The Hornets also had opportunities with runners in scoring position in the third and fourth innings and came up empty both times to leave the lead at one.
With two outs and runners at first and second in the top of the fifth, an error extended the inning and allowed the tying run to come across to score for Cornersville.
Wiggs hit a one-out single in the bottom of the seventh and moved to second as the potential game-winning run following a groundout by Keller, but another groundout ended the frame and sent the game into extra innings.
The Hornets had another walk-off opportunity in the bottom of the eighth as Jed Ashley hit a leadoff single and advanced to second on a passed ball with one out. However, the next two batters for Huntland struck out to end the inning.
The Bulldogs broke the tie in the top of the 10th as they recorded three straight hits to push across two runs. The Bulldogs’ next two batters also singled to load the bases with only one out, but Huntland pitcher Morris notched a strikeout and a groundout to keep the deficit at two.
An Ashley double with one out in the bottom of the 10th brought the potential tying run up to bat, but the Hornets weren’t able to manufacture any runs as they lost by two.
Wiggs pitched the first six innings for the Hornets with seven strikeouts, six hits, one earned run and one unearned run allowed.
Morris followed in relief with four innings pitched, four strikeouts, seven hits and two runs allowed.
With the loss, the Hornets finished their season with a record of 8-15.

