CARTERVILLE – The Lions softball team started out their home schedule with a win against the Massac County Patriots. The game ended in a close score of 4-3.

Lions started the 1st inning strong with five hits from Kayelyn Rice, Hunter Noto, Amayah Doyle, Lacie Carr, and Maddie Rosenbery. Those hits brought in two runs to make the score 2-0 in favor of the Lions.

However, the Patriots also brought in 1 run with hits by Clarie Bremer, Trinity Lott, and Mackenzie Dassing in the 2nd inning, making the score 2-1.

The 3rd inning was Massac County Patriots all the way. Lead off batter, Jayden Willard hit a triple to start off a Patriot run. Carterville had 2 errors in this inning to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead heading into the fourth inning.

Then it was the Lions turn. Rosenbery hit a line drive between second base and shortstop to get the inning started for the Lions. Kendall McCalla pinch ran for Rosenbery and stole 2nd the very next pitch. Avi Tomas then hit a groundout to the shortstop, advancing McCalla to third. Karson Caudill followed with a base hit up the middle to bring McCalla in and tie the score at 3-3.

In the 5 inning, it was all Lion defense. They managed to let no runners on base and get 3 outs in the first 3 batters. From there, the Patriots started panicking after Rice drilled a base hit to 3rd baseman, Clarie Bremer. The Patriots head coach made a quick pitching change to Chloe Dassing. Noto walked and Doyle was intentionally walked to place two runners on base. On a passed ball, Noto sprinted into home to make the score 4-3 Lions.

6th inning was very quiet for both teams. The Patriots had no runners on base and the Lions had only one. In the top of the seventh inning, left fielder Kennedy Rushing caught a flyout for the first out. Then it was all Lacie Carr as she ended the game with back-to-back strikeouts to win the game. She ended up with 6 strikeouts on the game.

The Lady Lions will play on March 24 at Waltonville High School at 4:30 P.M. If you wish to keep up with softball as well as other spring sports check us out @CartervilleAth on Instagram and Twitter.