Giles County forced a deciding game in the best-of-three series against the Marshall County 10-year old All-Stars in the Little League District 3 tournament by pulling out a 10-8 victory on Saturday evening at Richland Park.

Having won the opening game of the series 12-5, Marshall County held a 2-1 lead through the first inning and a half of Saturday's contest, but Giles County erupted for nine runs over the next two frames to seize a 10-2 advantage. Giles County then had to withstand a furious comeback attempt by Marshall County to claim the two-run victory.

Full distance

Starting pitcher Hope Drake went the distance in the circle for Giles County to pick up the win and yielded six hits and three walks in six innings of work while racking up 11 strikeouts.

Giles County finished with six hits in the contest as well, but were also aided by seven walks and five Marshall County errors, which contributed to five of their 10 runs.

Hanna Hill did the most damage at the plate for Giles County and went 3-for-3 with a walk, a triple, 4 RBI, and two runs scored, while Abby Sauls, Madison Foster, and Erin Abernathy each had one hit.

Marshall County starting pitcher Ali Adams suffered the loss and surrendered 10 runs, five earned, over two and a third innings on six hits and six walks. McKenzie Walls then came on in relief of Adams and allowed one walk in two and two-third scoreless innings of work.

Walls (1 RBI) and McKinley Richardson tallied two hits apiece to pace Marshall County offensively, while Naomi Hopper (1 RBI) and Mallorie Wooten each notched one hit.

Early lead

Marshall County grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Hannah Davis raced home on a wild pitch after reaching base on a error and advancing to third on a Walls single and a wild pitch.

After Giles County tallied a run in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1-1, Marshall County plated a run in the top of the second to claim a 2-1 advantage. Richardson reached base on an infield single and advanced to second on a Tatum Garrett walk prior to scoring on a RBI single by Hopper.

Giles County then pulled ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the second thanks to a two-run triple by Hill before crossing home plate seven times in the third inning with the help of four walks, three errors, a RBI single by Hill, and a Foster RBI groundout to forge a 10-2 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Marshall County took advantage of some shaky defense by Giles County and pushed across five runs in the frame on the strength of four errors, a Walls infield single, and an Adams walk to slice the deficit to 10-7.

Marshall County then narrowed the gap to 10-8 in the top of the sixth when Davis scored on a RBI groundout by Walls after drawing a leadoff walk, but Drake struck out the next two batters to secure the win for Giles County.