CARTERVILLE – The Lady Lions softball team kept their winning streak alive Thursday night with a win against the Nashville Hornettes. The game ended with a score of 9 to 1.

The top of the 1st inning started off pretty rough for the Hornettes, which gave the Lions the energy they needed to score 2 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Amayah Doyle started off with a strong base hit, followed by another from Kennedy Rushing. A sacrifice bunt from Maddie Rosenbery brought the 2 sophomores in to score.

Starting pitcher Lacie Carr began the 2nd inning throwing back-to-back strikeouts, which were paired with a pop up Doyle to end the top of the 2nd.

The Lions started off pretty slow in the bottom of the 2nd with a groundout and a strikeout. Luckily, Kayeleyn Rice and Doyle were both walked, giving Rushing the opportunity to score 2 more runs with a strong hit of her own. The score read 4-0, in favor of the Lions.

The Hornettes started off the 3rd with a strong double from senior Ryan Stiegman, but that didn’t stop Carr from following up with another pair of strikeouts to quickly shut down Nashville.

The Lions started to give up their energy by hitting two groundouts and a flyout right to 3rd to end the bottom of the 3rd inning.

They knew they had to focus on defense at that point, and that’s exactly what they did. Carr started by pitching two more strikeouts and Doyle matched her energy by catching a flyout of her own.

The bottom of the 4th was an intense one for the Lions. Macey Lentz started off with a base hit right past 1st, paired with Rice and Doyle both being walked, and it was again Rushing’s time to shine. With a powerful hit to the fence, she brought in 2 more runs for the Lions, making the score 6-0.

The Lady Lions weren’t stopping there. Rosenbery and Avi Tomas both hit well to score three more runs for the Lions.

The 5th inning started with junior Katie Keirn coming in to relieve Carr. She began by walking junior Lauren Rapp, but quickly redeemed herself by fielding and throwing an out at 1st. Hunter Noto also threw an out at first, which was followed by a strikeout from Keirn to end the top of the 5th.

The Lions were up to bat, but quickly let go of their energy when the Hornettes obtained two fast outs. Doyle tried to bounce back with a double of her own, but a groundout determined no luck for the Lions’ offense.

It was the 6th inning when Emme Paszkiewicz and Colleen Jahnke both had strong base hits for the Hornettes. With Jill Kuhl getting hit by the pitch, that loaded the bases for Nashville. They were able to score a run with one out left, but Doyle fielded a force out at third to stop their momentum. This run made the score 9-1.

Lions coach Will Capie, used their lead to show the depth of his varsity roster. Allie Stewart came into the game and hit the ball straight out to the middle field to earn her two bases. Keirn hit a single to advance Stewart to 3rd in hopes of gaining another run. Unfortunately, the Hornettes defense was too strong for the Lions with an out at 1st paired with a quick out at 2nd.

Keirn ended out the 7th inning by pitching 3 straight strikeouts to finish out the game with a score of 9-1.

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