Abbie Melvin of Athens Bible School fields a bunt against Clements Saturday in the Limestone County Softball Tournament.

The second day of the Limestone County Softball Tournament began Saturday with an upset as West Limestone defeated Class 1A, No. 1 ranked Athens Bible School.

ABS trailed 4-0 after the third inning and rallied to take the lead before West put together a rally of its own. The Lady Wildcats held on to win 8-6.

West scored three in the third inning to take the 4-0 lead. Courtney Hobbs led off the inning by reaching on an error and advanced to second on Andrea Griggs’ infield single. Two outs later, Natalie Harrison cleared the bases with a double. She would come around to score on an error.

The Lady Trojans cut the lead to two in the fourth as Kirsten McClure drew a walk and moved to third as Ashley Eaton reached on an error. Emily Cathey hit a sacrifice fly to score McClure. Eaton would score on a Brooke Chittam infield single.

ABS tied the game in the fifth as Haley Chittam hit an infield single and Abbie Melvin reached on an error. McClure singled to score Chittam and Melvin scored on an error.

In the sixth, Cathey and Katie Eubanks scored as the Lady Trojans put two runs on the board for the third consecutive inning. The pair of runs put ABS ahead 6-4.

The Lady Cats rallied in the bottom of the sixth, scoring four runs with only one out. Griggs hit a triple to get the offense rolling and scored as Caroline Hudson reached on an error. Hannah Dildine followed Hudson at the plate and also reached on an error. Harrison drove in Hudson with a double to tie the game.

Melissa Revis reached first on a fielder’s choice, allowing Dildine to score. A single to left by Ashley McGraw scored Harrison to give West an 8-6 lead heading into the seventh.

McClure was able to get into scoring position for ABS in the final inning, but the offense was unable to bring her home.

ABS managed only four hits in the game. Haley Chittam, Melvin, McClure and Cathey all singled for the Lady Trojans. McClure and Cathey each had an RBI.

Leading hitters for West included Harrison with three singles, a double and four RBIs. Griggs hit a pair of singles and a triple while Hannah Dildine, Chastity Dildine, Taylor Hamilton and Dana Springer all hit singles.

With the win, West advanced in the winner’s bracket to play Tanner, a winner over Clements Friday. The Lady Trojans dropped to the loser’s bracket to take on Clements.



Tanner 6,

West 1

Tanner put West in the loser’s bracket with a 6-1 win in the Limestone County Softball Tournament Saturday.

Haley Keenum led off the game by drawing a walk for Tanner. She stole second and scored on a single by Hollye Keenum. Alex Bohanon drove Keenum in with a double, stole third and scored on a passed ball to give Tanner a 3-0 lead.

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Hannah Dildine singled to left field and advanced to second when Harrison was hit by a pitch. Revis singled to left, allowing Dildine to score.

From there Tanner cruised, scoring three more runs and allowing a total of four hits in the game.

Leading hitters for West were Dildine with a pair of singles and Hudson and Revis with a single each. Revis had the lone RBI for the Lady Cats. Harrison drew two walks.

Hollye Keenum led Tanner with a triple, double and three RBIs. Bohanon hit a double, two singles and two RBIs. China Sain also doubled for Tanner.

With the win, Tanner advanced to play East Limestone in the final game in the winner’s bracket. West fell to the loser’s bracket to take on Elkmont, a 3-2 loser to Ardmore Friday.



ABS 5,

Clements 1

The host team of the Limestone County Softball Tournament, Clements, was eliminated after only two games when the Lady Colts fell to ABS Saturday.

Hallie Sandberg came out on top in a pitcher’s duel with Clements’ Sallie Van Kirk. Sandberg pitched a complete game, giving up six hits and striking out four. The Lady Trojans led 2-1 going into the sixth and broke the game wide open by scoring three runs in the inning.

Emily Irwin hit three singles and recorded two RBIs for ABS. Melvin tripled and singled for the Lady Trojans and Eaton and Brooke Chittam each hit a pair of singles. Kerri Pender, Sandberg and McClure also had singles for the Lady Trojans. With the win, ABS advanced to take on Ardmore, which lost to East Limestone 10-0 late Friday night.



Ardmore 1,

ABS 0.

Cassie Steadman turned in another great performance on the mound for Ardmore, striking out 16 as the Lady Tigers eliminated Athens Bible from the tournament.

Steadman improved to 14-9 on the year with the win. She pitched a complete game, allowing only two hits and walking two.

Jada Norton hit a pair of singles to lead the Ardmore offense. Amber Wise hit a double and Brittany Miles and Kayla Thompson each singled.

Irwin and Pender got the only hits for ABS, each with a single.

Melvin took the loss for the Lady Trojans. She also pitched a complete game, giving up five hits, walking one and striking out four.

Ardmore advanced in the loser’s bracket to take on the winner of the Elkmont-West game.



East 10,

Ardmore 0

East avenged a loss to Ardmore on Thursday by sending the Lady Tigers to the loser’s bracket.

East scored four runs in the top of the third to take a commanding lead. Morgan Franks hit a two-out single to get the offense going. Cassandra McKinney followed by reaching on an error.

Leading hitters for East were Chelsea Turner with a double, single and three RBIs. Danielle Holder hit a double, two singles and had an RBI. Carly Rhodes had a pair of singles and an RBI and Kayla Sneed and McKinney each hit a single and had two RBIs. Jyssica Pepper and Franks each hit a pair of singles and Bess Rhodes had a single.