The Marshall County Tigerettes (21-7) ended up turning a potential upset bid into a blowout on Thursday afternoon when they defeated the seventh seeded Hickman County Lady Bulldogs 16-3 in five innings at home in the first round of the District 12-AA tournament.

Although MCHS had swept the season series against Hickman County, the Lady Bulldogs appeared they might play the role of spoiler in Thursday's contest and held a 3-2 lead through the first three and a half innings of play.

In control

The Tigerettes, however, turned Hickman County's upset dreams into a nightmare in the bottom of the fourth inning, as they pushed across 14 runs in the frame en route to claiming their fifth consecutive victory..

"We got a couple of hits and the domino effect happened. Everyone became confident and everyone kept driving the ball," said MCHS coach Holly Cook.

Buoyed by their fourth inning offensive explosion, Marshall County finished with 14 hits and three walks in the contest to go along with six Lady Bulldog errors.

Austyn Whaley and McKenzie Anderson did the most damage at the plate for the Tigerettes, as they both tallied two hits and 4 RBI with Whaley belting a grand slam for the 25th homerun of her MCHS career. Ashton Watkins (3 RBI), Mary Kate McGehee (1 RBI), Morgan Moyers, and Mecia Reed notched two hits apiece for Marshall County as well, while Madison Thomason and Katie Crabtree both added a hit, a RBI, and two runs scored.

Winning hurler

Tigerette starting pitcher Grace Medley went the distance in the circle to pick up the victory and allowed five hits and a walk over five innings to go along with three strikeouts.

Peyton Mathis recorded two hits and a run scored to pace Hickman County at the plate, while Payton Goddard (2 RBI), Presley Jones (1 RBI), and Taylor Warren each had one hit.

MCHS drew first blood by scoring two runs in the bottom of the second inning to grab a 2-0 lead. Marshall County loaded the bases on two Lady Bulldog errors and a bunt single by Reed, before Anderson laced a two-run single into centerfield to put the Tigerettes on top.

Fighting back

Hickman County mounted an immediate response and tallied three runs in the top of the third inning with the help of a MCHS error, a Mathis single, a RBI single by Jones, and a Goddard two-run single to seize a 3-2 advantage.

The Tigerettes left a runner at second in the bottom of the third, but opened up the floodgates in the fourth inning by crossing home plate 14 times on the strength of a two-run single by Watkins, two Lady Bulldog errors, a Crabtree RBI single, a two-run single by Anderson, a McGehee RBI single, a bases loaded walk by Thomason, a Watkins RBI single, and a grand slam homerun by Whaley to forge a 16-3 lead.

Medley then worked around a one-out single by Mathis and a Jones walk in the top of the fifth to close out Marshall County's 10th straight win over the Lady Bulldogs.