The Franklin County Rebelettes beat the Marshall County Tigerettes 12-6 on the road Friday in a first-round game for the District 12AAA tournament.

The Rebelettes took control of the game with a nine-run third inning and maintained a steady lead for the rest of the day to open the postseason with a decisive win.

The Tigerettes scored the first run of the contest as their leadoff batter drew a walk, stole second and third base and scored off of an error to make it a 1-0 game.

The Rebelettes scored two runs in the top of the second as Addison Partin recorded an RBI single and Avari Rice, pinch-running for Alex Hand, scored off of an error to give them a 2-1 lead, but the Tigerettes scored two runs of their own in the bottom half of the second to put Franklin County in a 3-2 hole.

With two outs and the bases loaded in the top of the third, the Rebelettes recorded seven straight hits to score nine total runs as Hand and Partin got the scoring started with consecutive RBI singles, Hadley Jolley contributed a two-run single, Mollye Casey hit an RBI single, Leah Hardison recorded an RBI double, Kyleigh DeCamp notched a two-run double, and Kaitlyn Montgomery rounded out the high-scoring inning with an RBI double to put the overall tally at 11-3.

The Tigerettes were able to get one of those runs back in the bottom of the third as an RBI single in the frame cut the lead down to 11-4.

The Rebelettes scored their final run for the game in the top of the seventh as DeCamp led off the inning with a double, moved up to third on a groundout from Montgomery and scored on a sacrifice fly from Addilyn Carter to give their team a 12-4 advantage.

The Tigerettes were able to score a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to make up some ground, but the Rebelettes then recorded the final out they needed to clinch a six-run victory.

Dalayna Marshall pitched the first three innings for the Rebelettes with one strikeout, five hits, one walk and four runs allowed.

Victoria Nelson pitched four innings in relief with three strikeouts, three hits and two unearned runs allowed.

With the win, the Rebelettes improved to 17-15 on the season.

Franklin County 12, Shelbyville 0

The Rebelettes beat the Shelbyville Golden Eaglettes 12-0 at home on April 27 for their 16th win of the season.

The Rebelettes took an early lead and pulled away in the fifth and sixth innings of the contest as they closed out the regular season with a blowout victory.

Franklin County head softball coach Kelly Kennedy said that strong defensive and pitching efforts from her players paved the way to the decisive win.

“Our defense was lock-down tonight. I think that’s one thing that we really commended them on in the after-game huddle,” she said. “Victoria Nelson threw a really phenomenal game, and our defense did a very good job not allowing any runs to come across the plate.”

The Rebelettes scored their first run for the game in the bottom of the second as Carter hit a one-out double, moved up to third on a single from Partin and scored off of a throwing error to make it a 1-0 game.

The Golden Eaglettes loaded the bases with one out in the top of the third on three singles, but Nelson induced short flyouts from the next two batters to strand all three runners.

With one out and runners at second and third in the top of the fifth, the lead runner for Shelbyville attempted to score on a sacrifice fly, but center fielder Madi Morris delivered a strong throw home with catcher Alex Hand tagging out the runner at the plate for the final out of the frame.

The Rebelettes expanded their lead with a five-run frame in the bottom of the fifth as Hand hit an RBI double; Rice, pinch-running for Hand, stole home as part of a double-steal play with Bella Smith taking second base; Smith and Leah Hardison scored off of an error on a ball hit by Montgomery; and Carter recorded an RBI double to put the overall score at 6-0.

The Rebelettes clinched their victory slightly early in the bottom of the sixth as DeCamp hit into an RBI groundout, Montgomery and Nelson both contributed RBI singles and Carter notched a three-run home run to trigger the mercy rule as they won by 12.

Nelson pitched a complete-game shutout for the Rebelettes with six strikeouts, seven hits and one walk allowed for the day.

With the win, the Rebelettes improved to 16-15 on the season.

They next played Monday at Lawrence County High School in a semifinal game for the District 12AAA tournament which came after the Herald Chronicle’s press deadline.