The Loyd Star Lady Hornets’ early lead stung the Wesson Lady Cobras Thursday night, as Loyd Star brought home the win, 8-3.

The Lady Cobras struck first, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Loyd Star girls. The Lady Hornets claimed the lead in their half of the first and added four insurance runs in the fifth inning, to stay out in front.

“We didn’t do so good in the first inning,” the Lady Hornets’ Johanna Norman said. “But we came back and hit the ball. We showed Wesson that we could hit just as good as they can. Defensively, we made some errors at the beginning, but we came back and played our defense and kept them off the bases.”

The Lady Cobras put the first runs into the scorebook. After a walk and an error, Catherine Wilson nailed a two-run RBI double to put the Wesson girls on the board first. With one out Wesson scored their final run of the game off another error, before the Lady Hornets recorded the final two outs.

The Loyd Star girls claimed sole possession of the lead in their half of the first. With one out, Carson Hughey got the scoring started for the Lady Hornets with a single. Meagan Poole followed with a double.

Marley Poole notched an RBI double. Johnna Norman followed up with a two-run RBI triple. Carley Beth Wallace brought a run in on her RBI sacrifice. The Lady Hornets would score one more run before the Lady Cobras could get out of the inning.

Behind their defense, the Loyd Star girls kept Wesson off the bases for the next two innings. The Lady Hornets managed to get a runner on in their half of the third, off a double by Norman, but the Lady Cobras stranded Norman with a strikeout.

The Lady Hornets put the game away in the final frame of the fifth, scoring four runs. Meagan Poole led off with a single. Marley Poole followed with a single of her own.

Nailing a double, Norman brought in her third runner of the game. Wallace notched a single, loading up the bases. Brooke Cade brought in two runs on her two-run RBI single. Looking at two outs and runners on the corners, Aubrey Britt brought in the final run of the game on a RBI sacrifice. The Lady Hornets went on to win by a final score of 8-3.

“We started out shaky, but I think we played well,” Lady Hornets coach Jan Delaughter said. “I was pleased that we were able to hit the ball well and played good defense. I think our hitting was the difference in the game.”

Aly Floyd picked up the win for the Lady Hornets, going seven innings while allowing five hits and three runs while picking up four strike outs.

Laynee Crapps took the setback for the Lady Cobras, going six innings while allowing 12 hits and eight runs while picking up four strikeouts.

Norman led the Lady Hornets with a triple, two doubles and three RBIs. Meagan Poole had a single and a double. Marley Poole had a single, double and a RBI. Carson Hughey had a single. Floyd had two singles. Wallace had a single and an RBI. Cade had a single and two RBIs.

Wilson led the Lady Cobras with a double and two RBIs. Shelby Maxwell had a single. Anna Claire Crow also notched a single. Katie McSweyn and Sheyllia Green each had a single. Arie Douglas finished with an RBI.

The Loyd Star Lady Hornets were 10-8, and 4-2 in Region 7-2A, going into Friday’s game against the Brookhaven Lady Panthers who were 16-3, and 2-0 in the district.

The Wesson Lady Cobras were 15-5 overall, 6-0 in Region 7-3A, going into Friday night’s matchup with Mize for two games.

Story by Dave Linton