The Marshall County 10-year old All-Stars turned in a valiant effort, but had to settle for second place in the Little League District 3 softball tournament after suffering a heartbreaking 10-9 extra inning loss to Giles County on Monday night at Richland Park in the third game of a best-of-three series.

Giles County held a 8-3 lead through the first four innings of play, but Marshall County came storming back in the top of the fifth and pushed across six runs in the frame to seize a 9-8 advantage.

Marshall County, however, was unable to hold on to their tenuous lead, as Giles County tallied a run in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 9-9 before scoring another run in the seventh inning to claim the title.

Although they mustered just five hits overall against starting pitcher Callie Rose and reliever Hannah Hill, Marshall County drew six walks and took advantage of five Giles County errors. Hannah Davis led Marshall County at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a triple, 1 RBI, and three runs scored, while Ali Adams (1 RBI), Naomi Hopper, and Jessica Lancaster each had one hit.

"To come back from a deficit like that, you can't ask for anymore than that. These are probably the two best pitchers we're going to face. I couldn't be any more proud of the girls," said Marshall County coach Bryan Edde.

Giles County banged out 10 hits against Marshall County starting hurler Journey Mitchell to go along with a walk and six MC errors. Rose spearheaded Giles County's offensive attack by going 2-for-3 with a walk, two inside the park homeruns, and 5 RBI, while Makenna Beck added a pair of singles.

Hill picked up the victory on the mound for Giles County and yielded two runs in three innings of work on two hits and three walks.

Giles County was in the giving mood early in the contest, as Marshall County tallied two runs in the top of the first inning with the help of three errors to take a 2-0.

Marshall County then opened up a 3-0 advantage in the top of the third when Davis scored on a RBI groundout by Mackenzie Walls after belting a triple into the right centerfield gap.

In the bottom of the third, Giles County got their bats going and crossed home plate five times in the frame on the strength of a Abby Sauls single, a walk, an error, and a three-run inside the park homerun by Rose to seize a 5-3 lead.

Giles County opened up a 8-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a RBI single by Hill and a two-run inside the park homerun by Rose, but Marshall County quickly erased the deficit by plating six runs in the top of the fifth behind a leadoff single by Davis, two walks, two errors, an Adams RBI bunt single, a bloop single by Hopper, and a McKinley Richardson RBI groundout to pull ahead 9-8.

After coming up empty in the bottom of the fifth, Giles County notched the tying run in the sixth inning with the aid of an error, two walks, and a two-out RBI bloop single by Lindsey Barnickle to knot the game at 6-6.

Hill then retired Marshall County in order in the top of the seventh, before Jada Gardner reached base on an error and Beck singled to put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom half of the frame. Mitchell fanned Sauls for the second out, but Gardner and Beck pulled off a successful double steal before Gardner scored on another Marshall County error to give Giles County the 10-9 victory.