The Cornersville Lady Bulldogs (7-5) tuned up for the upcoming Big South Conference tournament by going on the road and thrashing the E..A. Cox Lady Cougars 16-2 in five innings on Wednesday afternoon.

Aided by a nine-run fifth inning, the Lady Bulldogs pounded out 18 hits overall against E.A. Cox starting pitcher Kayla Bennett to go along with a walk and five Lady Cougar errors.

Blasting hits

Leadoff hitter Jewel Anne Walls helped ignite Cornersville's offensive explosion by going 4-for-5 with a double, 2 RBI, and two runs scored. Samantha Prosser, Madison Hopkins, and Hannah Singleton also tallied three hits apiece for Lady Bulldogs and drove in four, three, and two runs respectively, while starting pitcher Mikaela King (2 RBI), Aliyah Holder (1 RBI), Bethann Oberlander (1 RBI), Courtney Darnell, and Emma Mitchell all had one hit.

"My goal was to work on our small ball game so we could prepare for our conference tournament because you have to play some small ball against good teams. I think we're starting to peak right now," said CMS coach Eric Crabtree.

King also went the distance in the circle to earn her fourth victory of the season and limited E.A. Cox to five hits and two walks while recording eight strikeouts.

Kimber Bennett notched two hits to pace the Lady Cougars at the plate. Tassy Lyles, Kayla Bennett, and Natacia Easterling each had one hit for E.A. Cox as well.

Three-run start

The Lady Bulldogs got off to a fast start and pushed across three runs in the top of the first inning behind a pair of singles from Walls and Singleton, a Lady Cougar error, a Prosser RBI groundout, and a wild pitch to grab a 3-0 lead.

E.A. Cox scored a run in the bottom of the first with the help of two singles from Kayla Bennett and Kimber Bennett and a CMS error to narrow the gap to 3-1, but Cornersville responded with three runs in the top of the second to open up a 6-2 advantage.

After singling and advancing to second on a Lady Cougar error to lead off the inning, Darnell moved to third on a Mitchell bunt single. Mitchell then stole second before she and Darnell both came home on a two-run single by Singleton to make it 5-1. Following a single by Hopkins, Singleton raced home from third on a Prosser RBI bunt single.

Running ahead

E.A. trimmed the deficit to 6-2 in the bottom of the third on a RBI single by Kimber Bennett before CMS stretched their lead to 7-2 in the top of the fourth when Hopkins sprinted home on a RBI single by Prosser after leading off the frame with a triple.

In the top of the fifth, the Lady Bulldogs brought the mercy rule into effect by crossing home plate nine times in the inning on the strength of a Hopkins two-run single, a RBI single by Prosser, a Holder sacrifice fly, a two-run double by King, an Oberlander RBI double, and a two-run double by Walls to forge a 16-2 advantage.

King then retired the Lady Cougars in order in the bottom of the fifth to cap Cornersville's seventh win of the year.