Coming off an 11-1 defeat at the hands of Columbia Academy four days earlier, the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs kept their season alive on Tuesday night by defeating the Mt. Pleasant Lady Tigers 12-4 at Richland High School in the loser's bracket of the District 11-A tournament.

Having blown out Mt. Pleasant in both regular season meetings, the Lady Bulldogs (9-8) once again disposed of the Lady Tigers in relatively easy fashion and built a 10-1 lead through the first two and a half innings of play before coasting to the eight-run victory.

Hits fly

Aided by their fast start, Cornersville pounded out 13 hits and drew two walks against Mt. Pleasant starting pitcher Kaylee Davis. Makayla Campbell did the most damage at the plate for the Lady Bulldogs and went 2-for-4 with a homerun and 4 RBI. Ashley Beard also tallied three hits, 1 RBI, and three runs scored, while Kelsey Wortham (2 RBI), Miranda Cooksey (1 RBI), and Kaitlyn Rogers (1 RBI) each added two hits. MandiLynn Calahan (1 RBI) and Carson Coble both notched a hit for CHS as well.

"I'm happy with the way that we hit the ball. When we hit, we can hang with anybody. We just have to trust ourselves. Everybody hit the ball tonight one through nine," said Cornersville coach Eric Crabtree.

Full game

Lady Bulldog starting pitcher Taylor Wolaver went the distance in the circle to pick up her eighth victory of the year and allowed six hits and two walks in seven innings of work while recording seven strikeouts.

Emily McNeese accounted for almost all of the Lady Tigers' offensive production, as she went 3-for-3 with a double, a homerun, 3 RBI, and two runs scored.

Cornersville got their bats going early and pushed across two runs in the top of the first inning thanks to a leadoff double by Cooksey, a Calahan RBI single, and a RBI double by Rogers to grab a 2-0 lead.

The Lady Bulldogs then opened up a 4-0 advantage by tallying two runs in the second inning. After loading the bases with two outs on a Beard double, a single by Wortham, and a Calahan walk, Campbell lined a two-run single into centerfield to bring home Beard and Wortham.

Mt. Pleasant trimmed the deficit to 4-1 when McNeese raced home on a RBI groundout by Kristen Davis after belting a leadoff double and advancing to third on a wild pitch.

Breaking it open

In the top of the third, the Lady Bulldogs broke the game open by crossing home plate six times in the frame on the strength of a Coble walk, three Lady Tiger errors, a Wortham RBI double, a RBI groundout by Cooksey, and a Campbell two-run homer to stretch their lead to 10-1.

Mt. Pleasant narrowed the gap to 10-4 in the bottom of the third on a three-run homer by McNeese, but Cornersville plated a run in the top of the fifth to forge an 11-4 advantage when Beard scored on a RBI groundout by Wortham after singling, stealing second, and advancing to third on a Lady Tiger throwing error.

Cornersville then tacked on another run in the top of the sixth thanks to a Beard RBI single to push their lead to 12-4 before Wolaver held Mt. Pleasant scoreless over the final two innings.