For the second time in two days, the Marshall County eight-year old All-Stars were unable to hold onto a late lead against the Giles County Black team, as they suffered a gut wrenching 12-11 loss in the championship round of the Little League District 3 softball tournament on Saturday night at Richland Park.

Needing two wins to take home the District title, Marshall County held a 11-8 lead through the first four and a half innings of play and appeared they would force a deciding game.

Giles County, however, once again broke Marshall County's hearts, as they plated a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the deficit to 11-9 before pushing across three runs in the sixth inning to pull out the dramatic victory.

Bolstered by their late offensive flurry, Giles County pounded out 12 hits overall. Alley Fletcher and Kristen Garner both tallied two hits to lead Giles County offensively, while Lyndsey Owen, Madison White, Katie Garner, Vallee Brewer, Bella Birdsong, Melia Roberts, McKenley Bruce, and Gray Teegarden each had one hit.

Marshall County, meanwhile, finished with 10 hits in the contest. Addison Bunty notched three hits to lead Marshall County at the plate, while Sarah King added two hits. Taylor Pickle, Maddi Yeager, Aniyah Fisher, Haylee Hobby, and Lahna Freeland each registered one hit for Marshall County as well.

Giles County pushed across two runs in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead before Marshall County plated four runs in the top of the third with the help of three errors and singles from Hobby, Bunty, and Pickle to pull ahead 4-2.

After Giles County tallied a run in the bottom of the third to narrow the gap to 4-3, Marshall County crossed home plate four more times in the top of the fourth on the strength of three errors and singles from Freeland and Bunty to forge an 8-3 advantage.

Marshall County's lead would quickly evaporate in the bottom of the fourth, as Giles County notched five runs in the frame with the aid of three errors, a Brewer triple, and a pair of singles by Birdsong and Roberts to knot the game at 8-8.

In the top of the fifth, Marshall County regained the lead by pushing across three runs in the frame behind a couple of errors and singles from Yeager and King to seize an 11-8 advantage.

Giles County quickly responded and plated a run in the bottom of the fifth to whittle the deficit to 11-9.

After holding Marshall County scoreless in the top of the sixth, Giles County completed the comeback by crossing home plate three times in the bottom half of the inning thanks to singles from Teegarden, Kristen Garner, and White and a two-out, two-run double by Fletcher to claim the 12-11 win.