The Cascade Lady Champions’ season came to a close in their second game of the day on Thursday to finish 1-2 in the District 9-AA Tournament after falling to Chapel Hill, 10-0.

GAME ONE

The Lady Champs ended Cannon County’s season in the first game on Thursday after scoring five runs in the sixth inning to break a 6-6 tie and end up winning, 11-7.

Brianna Horn kept her career afloat for at least one more game, throwing seven complete innings and only giving up one hit while striking out six batters on 165 pitches. She did issue 16 free passes, so all seven runs scored by the Lady Lions were earned. 

Horn was also 1-3 at the plate with an RBI double, a walk and a stolen base while scoring twice. Claire Perry was the only player on either side to record multiple hits, going 2-4 with two runs driven in and a run scored herself. Momo Bilbro also went 1-5 with a 2-RBI triple and a run scored. 

Cascade as a team only struck out once while tallying seven hits. Their offense was helped out by seven errors committed by the Lady Lions in the field. 

After neither team scored in the first inning, Cascade pushed across three runs in the top of the second before Cannon County responded with four runs of their own in the home half. The Lady Champs tacked on two more runs in the third to take a 5-4 lead, and after Horn posted back-to-back shutout innings, Cascade doubled their slim lead in the fifth inning. 

Cannon County fought back in the home half, scoring twice themselves to tie the game at 6-6. Then, the Lady Champs went for the knockout in the top of the sixth, scoring five runs to take a commanding 11-6 lead which they would not relinquish. The Lady Lions got one back, but after Horn posted her fourth shutout inning in the seventh, Cascade clinched the chance for a rematch with Chapel Hill.

GAME TWO 

In the nightcap on Thursday, the hometown Forrest Lady Rockets tallied 12 hits and 10 runs to run-rule Cascade, 10-0, after six innings.

Katelyn Lambert got the start in the circle for the visitors after Horn threw 165 pitches in the earlier game, but the real story was Cascade’s offense being unable to get much of anything going at the plate against either Taylor Moreland or Ella Dippold.

Moreland went four shutout innings after going just two in the previous meeting, giving up only four hits while striking out two on 54 pitches. Dippold came on in the top of the fifth, keeping the shutout going while giving up just a single base hit and also striking out a pair of batters on 26 pitches.

Lambert went 5.0+ for Cascade, and the Lady Rockets got to her for 10 runs, six of them earned,  on 12 hits, including a home run, and two walks with zero strikeouts on 62 pitches. 

Chapel Hill got things started almost immediately, scoring four runs in the first inning. After Lambert shut the hosts out in the second, the Lady Rockets responded with three more runs in the third inning to take a 7-0 lead. 

Meanwhile, Bilbro, Horn, Kyndal Bolden, and Alayna Cruse were the only Lady Champs to record a hit. Bilbro was the only one to tally more than one, and all five hits Cascade got were singles.

Forrest tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning, and after Lambert posted another shutout inning in the fifth, the Lady Rockets walked it off with one final run in the sixth inning to end the Lady Champs’ season.

Cascade ends the year at 5-17 (2-6).