The Lewisburg Middle School Tigerettes (4-0) had to scratch and claw to keep their perfect record intact on Friday night, as they rallied to defeat county rival Cornersville Middle School 8-7 on the road.

After jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, the Lady Bulldogs (3-4) held a 5-4 advantage through the first six innings of play and appeared poised to hand LMS their first loss of the year.

The Tigerettes, however, came through during crunch time and scored four runs in the top of the seventh to seize an 8-5 lead before staving off a Cornersville rally attempt in the bottom half of the inning to hang on for the hard fought victory.

Serious scare

Lewisburg came into Friday's contest averaging nearly 15 runs per game and finished with 12 hits and two walks against CMS starting pitcher Mikaela King, who suffered her second loss of the season.

Skylar Brandon (2 RBI), Hannah Sheppard (1 RBI), Kathryn Donahue (1 RBI), Leah Hollingsworth (1 RBI) and Taylor Walls each tallied two hits and combined to score seven runs to lead the Tigerettes' offensive attack. Sydne Solomon and Alli Hobbs each notched a hit and a RBI for Lewisburg as well.

"The game was getting more stressful as it went along. I've never had a team that hits one through nine like this team. I was very proud that they never quit and kept fighting," said LMS coach Lee Perryman. "I had a feeling that it wasn't over even when we took the lead. I knew we couldn't just tie it the top of the seventh. We had to keep adding on."

Tigerette starting hurler Halle Chapman went the distance in the circle to earn her fourth win of the year, but had trouble navigating the Lady Bulldogs' lineup, as she yielded 10 hits and five walks over seven innings to go along with four strikeouts.

Madison Hopkins and Jewel Anne Walls each notched three hits and a RBI to pace Cornersville at the plate. Sam Prosser also registered two hits and a RBI for the Lady Bulldogs, while Courtney Darnell (1 RBI) and Hannah Singleton each had one hit.

Good game

"That's the best game we've played since we faced Columbia Academy. We hit the ball and were patient in the box," said Cornersville coach Eric Crabtree. "You're not going to win every game, but I saw improvement tonight. I was proud of the way we didn't hang our heads when Lewisburg took the lead in the seventh."

The Lady Bulldogs knocked the Tigerettes back on their heels early in the contest by plating four runs in the bottom of the first inning with the help of an infield single by Hopkins, a Prosser single, an LMS error, a passed ball, and a pair of RBI singles by Jewel Anne Walls and Darnell to take a 4-0 lead.

LMS trimmed the deficit to 4-1 in the top of the third when Hollingsworth scored on a sacrifice fly by Solomon after singling, stealing second, and advancing to third on a bloop single by Taylor Walls.

In the top of the fourth, the Tigerettes pushed across two runs on the strength of a Sheppard triple, a Donahue RBI bloop single, a sacrifice bunt by Chapman, and a Hobbs RBI single to narrow the gap to 4-3.

Regaining lead

Cornersville stretched their lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth when Emma Mitchell raced home on a RBI single by Hopkins after drawing a leadoff walk and advancing to third on a passed ball and a Singleton sacrifice bunt.

Lewisburg then sliced the deficit to 5-4 in the top of the sixth thanks to a two-out RBI bloop single by Hollingsworth, before crossing home plate four times in the seventh inning with the aid of a Taylor Walls single, a double by Solomon, a Brandon two-run single, a RBI triple by Sheppard, and a Chapman sacrifice fly to pull ahead 8-5.

The Lady Bulldogs put together a rally of their own in the bottom of the seventh, as Singleton led off the inning with a single before scoring on a double by Hopkins and a Lewisburg throwing error to make it 8-6. Prosser then drove in Hopkins with a RBI single to close the gap to 8-7, but was thrown out at third on the play when she tried to advance two bases on an error by the Tigerette right fielder. Following a two-out single by Walls, Chapman struck out the next CMS batter to clinch the victory for LMS.