The Cornersville Middle School Lady Bulldogs evened their record at 3-3 on Thursday night by defeating the Richland Lady Raiders 9-4 at home.

After overcoming an early 1-0 deficit, the Lady Bulldogs built a 9-1 lead through the first three innings of play before coasting to the five-run victory.

Although Cornersville coach Eric Crabtree was happy to get the win, he was disappointed his team let their foot off the gas after the third inning and didn't continue to expand their lead.

Dissatisfaction

"I think this was probably the most lackluster game that we've played this season," said Crabtree. "As much as we want to get wins, you want to see your team make constant improvement and get better when you're trying to build a program. I don't want us to plateau."

The Lady Bulldogs finished with a modest six hits against two Richland pitchers, but drew eight walks and stole 12 bases to go along with three Lady Raider errors.

Samantha Prosser led CMS at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a double, a triple, 3 RBI, two runs scored, and a stolen base. Mikaela King (2 RBI), Hannah Singleton, Aliyah Holder, and Jewel Anne Walls each tallied one hit for the Lady Bulldogs as well with Holder and Walls stealing two bases apiece.

Cornersville starting pitcher Kirsten Young picked up the win to run her record to 2-2 overall and notched nine strikeouts in seven innings of work while allowing four runs, only one earned, on four hits and four walks.

Hope Calahan went 2-for-2 with a double and 2 RBI to pace Richland offensively. Jade Norton and starting pitcher Callyn Grace Schimdt each registered a hit and scored a run for the Lady Raiders as well.

Schmidt suffered the loss in the circle, yielding nine runs over three innings on five hits and seven walks.

Deficit overcome

Richland grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Norton scored on a Schmidt RBI groundout after reaching base on a leadoff single and advancing to third on a passed ball and a groundout by Cora Henson.

The Lady Raiders' lead would proved to be short lived, as CMS crossed home plate five times in the bottom of the first thanks to three walks, a bunt single by Singleton, a wild pitch, a Richland error, a Prosser bloop RBI double, a RBI single by King, and a Courtney Darnell RBI groundout to seize a 5-1 advantage.

Young worked around a leadoff walk and a hit batsman in the top of the second with the help of a 6-3 double play before the Lady Bulldogs pushed across three more runs in the bottom half of the frame on the strength of three walks, four stolen bases, a Prosser two-run triple, and a RBI sacrifice bunt by King to stretch their lead to 8-1.

Ahead to stay

Cornersville then tacked on another run in the bottom of the third when Mitchell scored on a Richland error after drawing a leadoff walk and stealing second and third.

Richland tallied three unearned runs in the top of the sixth on a Burnett walk, a single by Schmidt, a CMS throwing error, and a two-run double by Calahan to narrow the gap to 9-4, but Young pitched a scoreless seventh inning to close out Cornersville's third victory of the year.