Monday in the opening game of the First Region Softball Tournament held at Marshall County, the Lady Marshals 5-2 lead after four innings slipped away when Carlisle County scored two runs in the fifth to cut the lead to one, then took the lead for good with three in the sixth and two more tacked on in the seventh.
With their 9-6 victory, the Lady Comets will advance to the semifinals against Ballard Memorial who beat Paducah Tilghman 10-9. McCracken County beat Calloway County 3-0 and will play Graves County who beat Hickman County 5-2. Semi-finals will be played Tuesday at McCracken County.
Anna Russelburg hit a 2-out double in the top of the first inning that drove in the Lady Comets first run. Laney Shehorn connected for a 2-out single that brought in their second run in the second inning for an early 2-0 lead.
The Lady Marshals took the lead with a 3-run bottom of the second that began on singles by Chevelle Henson and Allicen Harris. With the bases loaded, a 2-out double by Madyson Morton cleared the bases.
With the bases loaded again in the bottom of the third with two outs, a hit by Merriel Jackson brought in another run for the Lady Marshals to take a 4-2 lead. They added one more in the bottom of the third to extend their lead to 5-2 on a 2-out single by Chloe Coursey.
Carlisle County cut the Lady Marshals lead to one with two runs in the top of the fifth, brought in on singles by Russelburg and Alyssa Aikins. The Lady Comets took the lead with three runs in the top of the sixth. Karlie Gibson hit a 2-run double and Rhianna Thomason a 1-run double for a 7-5 lead.
Carlisle County put up two more runs in the top of the seventh to extend their lead to 9-5 leaving the Lady Marshals with just one more opportunity at the plate. Coursey led off with a double followed by a single from Gracelyn Darnall that drove in Coursey and the inning was off to a great start before pitcher Rhianna Thomason retired the next three up to keep the Lady Comets season alive.
Thomason pitched all seven innings for Carlisle County in the win, striking out four, allowing the six runs on 10 hits. Harris and Darnall shared pitching duties for the Lady Marshals. Harris took the lose, giving up seven runs on 10 hits. Darnall allowed six hits and two runs.
Carlisle 1 1 0 0 2 3 2 9 16 3
Marshall 0 3 1 1 0 0 1 6 10 2
Marshall (18-15): Morton 3/3 (2B, 3 RBI), Coursey 2/4 (2B, RBI), Darnall 1/4 (RBI), Henson 2/4, Harris 2/4, Jackson (RBI)
Carlisle (17-14): Shehorn 3/4 (2 RBI), Gibson 3/4 (2B, 3 RBI), Russelburg 2/5 (2B, 2 RBI), Shehorn 1/3, Thomason 1/4 (2B, RBI), Jones 2/4, Burgess 1/3, Aikins 3/4 (3B, RBI)
Marshall: Harris 3.2 (10 hits, 7 runs), Darnall 3.1 (6 hits, 2 runs)
Carlisle: Thomason 7.0 (10 hits, 6 runs)
