After taking its lumps last week during the Gulf Coast Classic spring break tournament, the East Limestone Indians came back strong with an 8-1 win over rival West Limestone Tuesday afternoon.

It was that experience in the tournament, losing five out of its six games played, that helped the Indians against its rival, said East Limestone coach Brett Nave.

“I told them (after Tuesday’s game) that playing the competition we played last week got us this win today,” Nave said. “We saw that kind of pitching all last week. We took a few lumps, but it’s worth it now.”

East Limestone played two teams from Arkansas, as well as softball power Hartselle and Class 7A school Central-Phenix City in the tournament. The Indians lost those game, as well as a game to Lawrence County, and got its only win over Boaz. But Nave said playing those tough teams will only help the team in area play as it begins its push for the playoffs.

“We played pretty well at the beach, but we just didn’t have a lot of wins to show for it,” Nave said. “But it’s good to play that kind of competition and then get back home and hopefully get a few wins out of it.”

Facing the tough pitching East Limestone faced at the beach surely helped Tuesday, as the Indians scored six runs against West Limestone’s Baily Browning, one of the top pitchers in the area.

The game was tied 1-1 before East Limestone blew it open with five runs in the bottom of the fourth. Savannah Tyler led off the inning with a solo home run and Kaleigh Tribble added a two-run single later in the inning. The other two runs scored on a bases-loaded walk and an error.

East Limestone added two more runs in the fifth inning, on RBI doubles by Allie Drake and Maddison Watkins. Kaci Sharp also had a double for the Indians in the victory.

“The Browning girl is one of the best pitchers we’ll see,” Nave said. “It’s good to get some good at-bats against her, because she’s a good one. We worked on a play the last couple of days on what to do against her, and the second time around the batting order it worked out for us.”

East Limestone pitcher Olivia Crouch took advantage of the run support, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out eight in a complete-game effort.

“She gives us a chance every time she comes out to pitch,” Nave said. “When she can pick her spots, and throw her off-speed pitches, we have a chance in every game.”

Kynleigh Lopez had an RBI double for the West Limestone, while Chloe Hopkins and Raegan Clem had the other hits for the Wildcats.

Elkmont 7, Clements 2

Elkmont scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to break open a close game and pull away for a five-run victory.

With Elkmont holding a 3-2 lead in the fifth, Shelby Norman and Haven Kirby hit back-to-back two-run doubles to give the Red Devils all the runs they would need. The Red Devils only had four hits in the game, but Norman led the team with three RBIs, while Kirby drove in two runs.

Malena Butler was the winning pitcher, allowing six hits and two earned runs in a complete-game effort.

Tessa McElyea led Clements with a two-run double in the top of the first inning, while Janiah Anderson also had two hits for the Colts, including a double.

Calhoun wins two conference games

Calhoun Community College swept a conference doubleheader over Bevill State Tuesday, winning the first game 8-0 before taking a 9-8 comeback victory in the nightcap.

Makenzie Smith had two hits to lead Calhoun in the first game, while Sydnee Uhlman shut down the Bevill bats to get the pitching victory.

The second game went to extra innings tied at 7-7, but Bevill scored a run in the top of the eighth to take an 8-7 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Demarie Corley hit a double to score the tying run before Makaila Aday followed with a game-winning single.

Calhoun hit four home runs in the game, with three homers occurring in the fourth inning. Elkmont’s Dakota McCurley, Aday and Jessica Shaw all homered in the fourth while De’Asha Gordan hit a first-inning round-tripper.

Calhoun improved its record to 19-9 and will travel to face Marion Military Friday.