Karla Hice hit a walk off home run in the bottom of the eighth inning as Ardmore beat Athens 8-5 in a softball thriller Thursday evening.

Anna Carder gave Athens an early 3-0 lead with an inside the park home run in the second inning, but Ardmore took a 5-3 lead with three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, including a two-run homer by Leslie Smith. Athens closed to within one with a run in the sixth, and then tied the game in the top of the seventh on a single by Gracie Green.

The game went to extra innings after Ardmore failed to score in the bottom of the seventh, and after Athens was held scoreless in the top of the eighth, Hice ended the game with her three-run shot in the bottom of the eighth.

Anna Carder led Athens with two hits, including the three-run homer, while Mary Greg Anderson also had two hits for the Golden Eagles, including a triple.

Sydney Hall pitched all eight innings for Ardmore to get the win, striking out seven and allowing four earned runs.

East Limestone 4, Russellville 1

East Limestone got a strong pitching performance from Olivia Crouch to take a Class 6A, Area 16 victory Thursday.

Crouch allowed just four hits and one earned run while striking out six to pick up the victory.

East scored single runs in the first and second innings, and scored two more in the bottom of the sixth

on an RBI single by Mallory Jo Mitchell and a run-scoring double by Kayleigh Tribble to give themselves some breathing room.

Tribble had two RBIs in the game, while Crouch also had a hit and an RBI and Alyssa Briggs had two hits.

Elkmont 4, East Lawrence 2

Elkmont scored three runs in the top of the fifth to get past East Lawrence and take a Class 3A, Area 15 victory Thursday.

Haven Kirby led off the game with a home run to stake the Red Devils to a 1-0 lead, but East Lawrence responded with single runs in the first and fourth innings to go up 2-1.

Elkmont’s runs in the fifth came on a two-run double by Abby Gooch followed by an RBI double by Hannah Usery.

That was all the run support Elkmont pitcher Malena Butler needed. Butler allowed just one earned run on six hits in the complete-game effort.

Autumn Davis also had two hits for Elkmont in the victory.

Danville 2, West Limestone 1

Baily Browning had a triple and a single for West Limestone, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a strong pitching performance from Danville’s Laney Coker.

Coker allowed just one run and struck out 14 batters in a complete game.

Raegan Clem also doubled, walked and drove in the only run of the game for the Wildcats.

West Morgan 9, Clements 7

Clements fell in a high scoring game to West Morgan on Thursday.

Tessa McElyea led the Colts with a double, a single, an RBI and a run scored.

Boys Soccer

East Limestone 6, West Limestone 3

East Limestone scored four goals in a five-minute span early in the second half to take a victory over county rival West Limestone Thursday night.

East Limestone led 2-0 at halftime thanks to penalty kick goals from Ryan Rodriguez and Cole Tiemann, but West Limestone struck back two minutes into the second half with a goal from Christian Clemmons.

But the Indians then unleashed a goal scoring onslaught, as Jason Degroff, James Oliver, John Oliver and Cody Tiemann all scored between the fifth and 10^th minute of the second half to stake East to a commanding 6-1 lead.

West Limestone came back later in the half with goals from Richard Grimes Lagunas and Jose Roman, but it was too little, too late as East cruised home to the win.