Mostly cloudy skies this morning will become partly cloudy this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 77F. Winds light and variable..
Huntland's Hadley Gardner connects on a pitch in this file photo from earlier in the season. Gardner had four hits, including a home run, one walk, three RBIs and three runs scored for the Lady Hornets Friday in their 19-15 loss to New Hope High School.
Huntland's Hadley Gardner connects on a pitch in this file photo from earlier in the season. Gardner had four hits, including a home run, one walk, three RBIs and three runs scored for the Lady Hornets Friday in their 19-15 loss to New Hope High School.
The Huntland High School Lady Hornets lost to the New Hope Lady Indians 19-15 at home Friday for their third loss of the season.
The teams traded runs throughout the high-scoring contest with the Lady Indians leading for most of the day to break Huntland’s four-game winning streak.
The Lady Indians got the first run of the contest in the top of the first, but the Lady Hornets quickly responded with a four-run frame in the bottom of the first. Jocy May hit a three-run home run and Lily Jackson added an RBI double to make it a 4-1 game early.
However, the lead wouldn’t last for long as the Lady Indians put up seven runs in the top of the second to flip the scoreboard back in their favor.
Hadley Gardner hit a solo home run for Huntland in the bottom of the second to put the score at 8-5, but New Hope then scored five more runs in the top of the third to push the early deficit up to 13-6.
An RBI single from Emily Stewart in the bottom of the third was countered by a New Hope home run to lead off the top of the fourth as the score was placed at 14-7 at the game’s midway point.
The Lady Hornets put together another four-run inning in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single from Gardner, a sacrifice fly from May, an RBI single from Camerin Davis and an RBI groundout from Jackson cutting the deficit in half.
However, the Lady Indians responded with four runs in the top of the fifth to once again make it a seven-run game at 18-11.
The last burst of offense for the Lady Hornets came in the bottom of the sixth as Molly Tipps hit into an RBI groundout, Bella Smith hit a two-run double and May contributed an RBI single to put the score at 18-15 late.
The Lady Indians scored their final run in the top of the seventh, and the Lady Hornets were retired in order in the bottom half of the inning to seal the loss by four.
Analyn Riddle pitched one inning for the Lady Hornets to start the game with four hits, six walks, six earned runs and two unearned runs allowed.
Bailey Morris pitched the next 3 2-3 innings in relief with six strikeouts, nine hits, three walks, six earned runs and four unearned runs allowed. Smith pitched the remaining 2 1-3 innings with two strikeouts, three hits and one run allowed.
With the loss, the Lady Hornets moved to 4-3 on the season.
They will next play Tuesday at home against Eagleville High School. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
