On Tuesday night, the Marshall County Tigerettes (19-7) completed the season sweep of local rival Cornersville (7-7) when they went on the road and defeated the Lady Bulldogs 8-3.

The two teams battled to a 2-2 tie through the first four innings of play, but the Tigerettes took control of the game after that point and outscored Cornersville 6-1 over the final three innings en route to claiming their fourth straight win.

Bolstered their late offensive surge, Marshall County finished with 14 hits against two Lady Bulldog pitchers to go along with a walk and three Cornersville errors.

Hitting leaders

Second baseman Mecia Reed tallied three hits and a run scored to lead the Tigerettes' offensive attack, while Morgan Moyers (3 RBI), Ashton Watkins (1 RBI), Austyn Whaley, and McKenzie Anderson notched two hits apiece. Madison Thomason (2 RBI), Katie Crabtree (1 RBI), and Madison Hargrove (1 RBI) each had one hit for Marshall County as well.

"We started off a little shaky defensively, but I was real proud of the way that we kept battling and put some good at bats together," said MCHS coach Holly Cook. "I think we're starting to put things together. We're getting big hits and making plays defensively. Hopefully we'll keep it up in the District tournament."

Aided by several nice defensive plays from Reed, Tigerette starting pitcher Grace Medley and reliever Jacey Perryman combined to limit the Lady Bulldogs to six hits in the contest.

Winning pitcher

Medley picked up the win in the circle after allowing two runs in four innings of work on three hits. Perryman then came in and yielded one run on three hits over the final three innings to earn the save.

Kaitlyn Rogers went 3-for-3 with a run scored to pace Cornersville at the plate, while Ashley Beard added a solo homerun. Starting pitcher Taylor Wolaver (1 RBI) and Amala Elder also had one hit apiece for the Lady Bulldogs.

Wolaver suffered the loss in the circle and gave up four runs in five innings of work on eight hits and a walk to go along with two strikeouts. Freshman hurler Briley Bean then came on in relief of Wolaver and allowed four runs over the final two innings on six hits.

Close at first

Marshall County grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Moyers scored on a RBI double by Watkins after drawing a leadoff walk and advancing to second on a Thomason sacrifice bunt.

Cornersville mounted an immediate response and pushed across a run in the bottom half of the first to knot the game at 1-1. After reaching second base on a Tigerette error, Miranda Cooksey stole third before racing home on a wild pitch.

Wolaver worked around a leadoff single by Reed in the top of the second with the help of a 1-4-5 double play, but Marshall County tallied a run in the fourth inning to take a 2-1 lead. Watkins belted a double into the left centerfield gap to lead off the inning before advancing to third on a Whaley groundout. Crabtree then slapped single into right field to drive in Watkins.

The Lady Bulldogs once again quickly counterpunched and plated a run in the bottom of the fourth to retie the game at 2-2 when Rogers scored on a two-out RBI single by Wolaver after singling and advancing to second on a wild pitch.

Tigerettes seize lead

In the top of the fifth, MCHS seized a 4-2 advantage by tallying two runs in the frame on the strength of an Anderson double, a RBI single by Moyers, a Cornersville error, and a Thomason RBI single.

Beard blasted a solo homer over the left centerfield fence in the bottom of the fifth to narrow the gap to 4-3, but the Tigerettes crossed home plate three times in the top of the sixth thanks to a singles from Reed and Anderson, a hit batsman, a Moyers two-run single, and a sacrifice fly by Thomason to stretch their lead to 7-3.

Marshall County then tacked on an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a RBI single by Hargrove to open up an 8-3 advantage before Perryman worked around a leadoff single by Elder in the bottom of half of the frame with the aid of a 4-6-3 double play to close out the win for the Tigerettes.