Stories from Wednesday, May 11, 2016

After pulling off a 2-0 upset win over Moore County on Saturday, the Huntland Lady Hornets ran into a Forrest buzz saw in Tuesday night's District 9-A Tournament winner's bracket game at Eagleville that resulted in a 12-0 five-inning, run-rule win by the defending state champion Lady Rockets...

Wednesday, May 11, 2016 Baseball District 9-A At Forrest Eagleville vs. MTCS, 5 p.m. (Loser's Bracket Final) Forrest vs. Eagleville/MTCS winner, 7:30 p.m. (Championship Game) Softball District 9-A At Eagleville Moore County vs. Huntland, 5 p.m. (Loser's Bracket Final) Forrest vs. Moore County/Huntland winner, 6:30 p.m. (Championship Game) District 11-A At Culleoka Cornersville vs. Mt. Pleasant, 5:30 p.m. Columbia Academy vs. Cornersville/Mt. Pleasant winner, 7:30 (Championship game) District 12-AA At higher seed Spring Hill at Marshall County, 5:30 p.m. Page at Cascade, 5:30

The old sports adage about being tough to beat a team three times in one season proved true once again as the Cornersville Bulldogs took down the Richland Raiders in convincing fashion 7-4 after losing to its longtime rival 7-6 and 6-2 earlier in the 2016 schedule. "We were better in all three phases of the game than we were in the regular season," Cornersville coach Ben Putnam said. "We pitched better, we fielded better, and we hit better. We weren't very good at any of it the previous two meetings against (Richland) and today we were."

The top-seeded and seventh-ranked Forrest Rockets finally got a chance to play baseball after earning a first-round bye in the District 9-A Tournament, hosting Huntland Saturday afternoon. The Hornets put up a good fight, climbing back from an early nine-run deficit before a second offensive blitz was too much to handle as Forrest ran away and hid via a 16-6 five inning, run-rule win.

The Marshall County Tigerettes had their backs against the wall entering last night's game versus Giles County, winning the District 12-AA opener 6-2 at Lewisburg Friday night before suffering a tough 4-2 loss at Page on Monday. "The Tigerettes are fighters, we have a lot of school pride and competitive girls," MCHS coach Heather Denton said. "They are ready to play and want to win. Now we get to play every day and every team in the district to prove that we deserve to be in the championship."

The Marshall County (4-8-1, 1-4-1) boys soccer team entered the district tournament Thursday night on a regular season ending hot streak, winning three in a row and four of its last five games after starting the season 0-6-1. The Tigers first round opponent was a familiar foe in Giles County (10-5-4, 5-1-1), the same team that ended the 2015 season for Marshall County and beat the Tigers 4-0 during the fifth game of the 2016 season.

Facing a win or go home situation on Monday night, the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs traveled to Culleoka to take on a familiar opponent in Richland with its season on the line. Cornersville had faced the Lady Raiders from Lynnville three times during the regular season, winning all three games by a combined score of 37-6, but the young Richland team put up a fight before succumbing to the brilliant pitching of sophomore Mikaela King and the Bulldogs hung on for a 4-2 win.

After coming up with a 6-1 win over Giles County on Saturday, the Marshall County Tigers had the imposing task of traveling to host CPA on Monday with elimination from the District 12-AA Tournament facing Lewisburg. "I was really proud of our guys, real proud of what these seniors have accomplished," MCHS coach Mike "Monk Reese said. "We are in the best district in double 'A' baseball and I would not be surprised if we have two teams go on and do well in the state."

The Bulldogs (11-13) looked to build on its dominant 7-4 win over Richland the previous evening and pull an upset against longtime rival Columbia Academy (29-5) for a chance to move into the finals of the winners bracket of the district 11A tournament. The Bulldogs namesakes from Columbia came into the game undefeated in the district, but had beaten Cornersville by just three runs in a district showdown a week and a half earlier.