On Saturday night, the Marshall County 12-year old All-Stars were eliminated from the Little League District 3 softball tournament when they lost 12-2 to Giles County in five innings at Richland Park in the second game of a best-of-three series.

Marshall County actually held a 2-0 lead through the first two innings of play, but things quickly fell apart after that point, as Giles County outscored them 12-0 over the next three frames to sweep the series.

Although Giles County committed four errors in the contest, Marshall County mustered just three hits and no walks against starting pitcher Anna Johnson while striking out six times. Pressley Haley, Shasta Beaty, and Madison Southerland each notched one hit for Marshall County.

Hits mount up

Despite getting off to a slow start offensively, Giles County finished with 11 hits and five walks against two Marshall County hurlers. Marshall County also made their pitching staff's task harder by committing six errors, which contributed to seven of Giles County's 12 runs

Makenna Birdsong (2 RBI), Allie Hamlett (2 RBI), Alli Toone (1 RBI), and Lexi Barnickle (1 RBI) each tallied two hits to lead Giles County at the plate.

Starting pitcher Marlee Woodward suffered the loss on the mound for Marshall County and yielded seven runs, four earned, over four innings on eight hits and three walks.

Marshall County took advantage of some shaky defense by Giles County in the top of the first inning, as they pushed across two runs in the frame with the help of a leadoff single by Haley and three errors to grab a 2-0 lead.

Giles gets started

After failing to score in the first two innings of play, Giles County began to get their offense cranked up in the bottom of the third and crossed home plate three times in the frame with the help of a leadoff triple by Toone, a single by Barnickle, two errors, and a Hamlett two-run single to seize a 3-2 advantage.

Johnson then worked around a pair of singles by Beaty and Southerland in the top of the fourth before Giles County stretched their lead to 7-2 in the bottom half of the frame on the strength of a Hannah McCauiskey two-run single, a Marshall County throwing error, and a RBI infield single by Birdsong.

In the bottom of the fifth, Giles County brought the mercy rule into effect by plating five runs in the inning thanks to two errors, a Toone RBI groundout, and a couple of RBI singles from Hope Calahan and Birdsong to cap their 12-2 triumph.