Summit handed the Marshall County Tigerettes their first loss of the season on Wednesday night when they defeated MCHS 12-7 in Lewisburg.

After losing all three meetings against Marshall County last year, the Lady Spartans (2-4, 2-3 District) knocked the Tigerettes (3-1, 2-1 District) back on their heels early in Wednesday's contest and built a 9-0 lead through the first two and a half innings of play before claiming the five-run victory.

Bolstered by a seven-run first inning, the Lady Spartans finished with 14 hits and two walks overall. Marshall County also aided Summit's cause by committing five errors, which contributed to five of the Lady Spartans 12 runs.

One bad night

"It was one of those games where everything that could go right for them went right and everything that could go wrong for us went wrong," said MCHS coach Holly Cook. "I hate to lose, but with every loss I want to learn something. One loss in the District isn't going to kill us so hopefully we can bounce back and use this as a learning experience."

Lexie Shoemaker and Lauren Johnson both tallied three hits and 2 RBI to spearhead Summit's offensive onslaught, while Olivia Goodlow (1 RBI), Annaka Baxter, and Anna Blackwell each had two hits.

MCHS starting pitcher Jayce Perryman suffered the loss, allowing nine runs, six earned, on eight hits and two walks over three innings. Grace Medley came on in relief of Perryman and yielded three runs, only one earned, on six hits in four innings of work.

13 hits

The Tigerettes, meanwhile, pounded out 13 hits against two Summit hurlers. Katie Crabtree led Marshall County at the plate by going 3-for-4 with a double and a RBI, while Austyn Whaley went 2-for-4 with double, a homerun, and 3 RBI. Ashton Watkins (1 RBI), Morgan Moyers, and Madison Thomason notched two hits apiece for the Tigerettes as well, while McKenzie Anderson (1 RBI) and Mecia Reed both had one hit.

Starting pitcher Kasey Turner picked up the win in the circle for the Lady Spartans after giving up five runs over five innings on eight hits and a walk.

Marshall County found themselves in a huge hole at the start of the game, as Summit crossed home plate seven times in the top of the first inning on the strength of two walks, a Baxter infield single, a RBI double by Shoemaker, a Johnson two-run single, a pair of RBI singles by Hannah Rolen and Goodlow, two MCHS errors, and a Turner RBI fielder's choice to forge a 7-0 lead.

The Lady Spartans plated another run in the second inning thanks to a Shoemaker double and a RBI groundout by Lauren Fredette to open up an 8-0 advantage, before pushing their lead to 9-0 in the third with the help of two Tigerette errors and a Shoemaker RBI single.

Whaley homer

Marshall County trimmed the deficit to 9-3 in the bottom of the third when Whaley blasted a three-run homer over the left field fence to drive in Moyers and Thomason, who reached base on a double and a single respectively.

After Summit stretched their lead to 10-3 in the top of the fourth on a RBI single by Blackwell, the Tigerettes notched a run in the bottom half of the frame with the aid of a Crabtree double and a Lady Spartan throwing error to narrow the gap to 10-4.

Marshall County then cut the deficit to 10-5 in the fifth inning on a Crabtree RBI single prior to pushing across two runs in the sixth thanks to a RBI groundout by Anderson and a Watkins RBI single to close the gap to 10-7.

In the seventh inning, the Lady Spartans tacked on two insurance runs with the aid of a Blackwell infield single and a MCHS throwing error to forge a 12-7 advantage before the Tigerettes went down in order in the bottom half of the frame.