Huntland's Hadley Gardner begins to move down the first-base line after connecting on a pitch during a game Sunday at Wayne County High School. Gardner had a home run and two RBIs in the 5-2 loss.
Huntland's Hadley Gardner begins to move down the first-base line after connecting on a pitch during a game Sunday at Wayne County High School. Gardner had a home run and two RBIs in the 5-2 loss.
The Huntland High School Lady Hornets lost to the Wayne County Lady Wildcats 5-2 on the road Sunday in a qualifying game for the Class A state softball tournament.
The Lady Hornets fell behind early in the contest and weren’t able to produce enough offense for a comeback as their season came to an end with the loss.
Huntland head softball coach Michael Tipps said that the Lady Wildcats made a few more plays than his team to hold off the Lady Hornets down the stretch.
“We kind of dug ourselves a hole again, and this time, we just couldn’t get out. We kept crawling and fighting, but when we put the ball in play, (Wayne County) just made some great plays in the field against us. That was the difference,” he said.
Tipps added that his players showed an incredible amount of fight and grit throughout the year to make it to this point in the season.
“We started the year out with 13 players and a bunch of young pups that hadn’t seen the field a whole lot. They stepped up, and they believed because the seniors believed,” he said. “That was the biggest thing. The adversity that they overcame this season will take them to more in life than one softball game."
The Lady Wildcats scored their first run of the day in the bottom of the second as a leadoff walk and a sacrifice bunt were followed by an RBI double to make it a 1-0 game early.
Wayne County’s leadoff hitter in the bottom of the third also drew a walk, stole second base, advanced to third on a lineout and ran home on a wild pitch to put the score at 2-0, and an RBI groundout later in the frame brought the early deficit up to 3-0.
The Lady Hornets got on the board in the top of the fourth with Bella Smith hitting a leadoff single and Hadley Gardner following with a two-run home run to right field to cut the lead down to 3-2.
However, the Lady Wildcats capitalized on a few Huntland errors in the bottom half of the fourth to get those two runs back and make it a 5-2 game.
Huntland’s last 12 batters for the contest were retired in order with multiple hard-hit line drives being snagged by Wayne County defenders during that stretch to keep the Lady Hornets off the basepaths and seal the three-run loss.
Smith pitched a complete game for the Lady Hornets with three hits, two walks, three earned runs and two unearned runs allowed.
With the loss, the Lady Hornets ended their season with a record of 12-10.
