On Sunday, the Marshall County Storm advanced to the finals of the 13-year old Babe Ruth District tournament by defeating Giles County 12-2 in six innings at Lawrence County High School in the second round of the tourney.

Facing an offense that had scored 21 runs in their previous contest against Lawrence County, Marshall County starting pitcher Will Johnson silenced Giles County's bats and yielded just two runs in six innings of work on five hits and two walks to earn the victory.

Although they finished with only four hits overall, the Storm showed patience at the plate and drew 11 walks to go along with eight Giles County errors.

Marshall County also turned in a solid defensive performance and committed only one error in the contest while turning one double play.

"We made some tremendous plays on defense today and probably took away four hits from them. I told the team before the game that Giles County always battles and scored 21 runs in their last game, but Will was a bulldog on the mound for us and pitched well," said Storm coach Mike Bailey. "Winning this game and staying out of the loser's bracket is great for our pitching staff. Now we're able to sit back and save our pitchers for the championship game."

Trent Richardson, Jonathan Lykins, Jacob Jones and Johnson each tallied one hit for Marshall County with Richardson and Lykins driving in one run apiece. Jay Howard and Logan Bailey (1 RBI) both drew three walks and scored a run for the Storm as well.

Colton Holley went 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored to pace Giles County at the plate, while Ty Rose and Nate Bryant each had one hit. Giles County starting pitcher Trent Burns suffered the loss on the mound after allowing seven runs over two innings on three hits and six walks.

Marshall County seized the momentum early by pushing across four runs in the bottom of the first inning on the strength of a leadoff single by Jones, three walks, an error, and a pair of RBI singles from Richardson and Lykins to take a 4-0 lead.

In the second inning, the Storm continued to rapidly distance themselves from Giles County and notched three runs in the frame with the help of three walks, two errors, and a Logan Bailey sacrifice fly to open up a 7-0 advantage.

After Giles County trimmed the deficit to 7-1 in the top of the fifth on a RBI fielder's choice by Kasey Brown, the Strom plated two runs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a Luke Cunningham walk, a single by Johnson, and a couple of errors to stretch their lead to 9-1.

Giles County narrowed the gap to 9-2 in the top of the sixth when Holley scored on a Marshall County throwing error after belting a one-out double, but the Storm brought the mercy rule into effect in the bottom half of the frame by tallying three runs on Thomas Hawkins walk and three errors to seal their 12-2 triumph.