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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CULLMAN – The Thompson Warriors kept their momentum going with an undefeated weekend at the Cullman Pre-State Blowout on April 12-13.

The Warriors took second place in the tournament after beating the Hayden Wildcats and Hartselle Tigers on Friday, April 12 and the McAdory Yellow Jackets and Lawrence County Red Devils on Saturday, April 13.

In the first game of the tournament against Hayden, Dailynn Motes used a one-out single from Olivia Tindell in the first inning to hit a two-run home run on the first pitch she saw to open up an early lead.

Laney Williams followed that up with a single and Kadyn Bush scored her from second with an RBI single to increase the lead to 3-0.

The next inning, Mallory Flournoy kicked off the inning with a single, and two batters late, Tindell singled to put a pair of runners on for Motes. She then came up big again with an RBI double to make the lead 4-0.

On the next pitch, Williams launched a three-run homer to center and put Thompson up 7-0.

Motes added another pair of runs in the bottom of the third, rebounding from suffering a pair of outs to get two runs off an RBI single and close out the 9-0 win in four innings.

Motes finished the game 3-for-3 with five RBI and two runs, and Williams also ended the game perfect with a 2-for-2 game with three RBI and two runs.

Kadyn Bush took the win and Kayla Haney earned the save after each pitched two shutout innings.

The second game saw the Warriors square off in a pitcher’s duel with Hartselle for the first two innings, but after back-to-back one-out singles from Neely Davis and Kelsey Burden were followed by a Tindell walk to load the bases.

Motes then scored a pair of runs off an RBI single to open up the lead, and Williams took that lead to 4-0 with a two-run double quickly after.

Bush then singled to put runners on the corners and Aubree Hooks followed that up with an RBI double to make the score 5-0.

Keara Hall kept the offense rolling with a single to load up the bases, and Savanna Burnett closed the scoring with a two-run double which increased the lead to 7-0, and Thompson saw out the four-inning win from there.

Motes kept her perfect day at the plate going with a 2-for-2 performance with two RBI and a run.

Hooks earned the win with a complete-game four innings, earning five strikeouts against two hits and not allowing a run or walk.

The next day, Thompson got into a battle with McAdory but prevailed in walk-off fashion.

The Jackets took the lead in the top of the first with a run scored off a fly out.

The Warriors responded in the bottom half of the frame with a Burden lead-off double. After the next batter struck out, they took the lead off a pair of errors, the first off a Motes ground ball and the second off an error during Williams’ at-bat.

After a scoreless second inning, Motes extended the lead to 3-1 with a solo home run in the bottom of the third.

However, after a pair of runners reached off singles in the top of the fourth, McAdory hit an RBI single and got a run off a fly out to tie up the game at 3-3.

The score remained tied from there until Thompson got an opening in the bottom of the fifth.

Motes and Williams started off the inning with back-to-back singles, and both advanced to scoring position on the throw during Williams’ single. Bush then hit a sacrifice fly to bring Motes home and earn the 4-3 win.

Motes went 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI and Alexandra Bauer and Bush each went 2-for-2.

Hooks secured the win after she came in for the final two outs of the top of the fifth and earned a pair of strikeouts while allowing just a hit and a walk.

The Warriors then cruised to its fourth and final victory of the weekend against Lawrence County.

After a pair of lead-off singles by Burden and Tindell to start the bottom of the first, Burden came home off a Motes line out to open up a 1-0 lead.

Two batters later, Tindell scored off an error and doubled the lead.

Bush then continued her strong start in the circle as she struck out the side in the top of the second to give her five strikeouts through two innings.

The Warriors had to wait until the bottom of the fourth to extend their lead but pulled away for the win from there.

Hall singled on the first pitch of the inning, but the next two Thompson batters got out to put the team in a hole.

Burden hit an RBI single to extend the lead to three, and the inning stayed alive after Tindell’s single and Motes getting hit by a pitch loaded up the bases.

Williams and Bush then hit back-to-back two-run singles to increase the lead all the way to 7-0.

After a one-two-three top of the fifth, Hannah Hobbs hit a one-out solo home run for the eighth run of the game.

While the next batter struck out, Burden singled to keep the inning alive. Tindell hit an RBI triple and Motes followed that with an RBI single to trigger the run-rule and earn the 10-0 win.

Burden and Tindell each finished the game 3-for-4 with three runs and an RBI. Hobbs and Bush each went 2-for-3 with Bush earning two RBI and Hobbs had a run and an RBI.

Bush took the win with six strikeouts in four innings, allowing just one hit while not giving up any runs or walks.

With the 4-0 weekend, Thompson improved to 34-4 and extended its winning streak to seven straight games. It will look to continue the streak in an area matchup at Hoover on Tuesday, April 16 at 4:30 p.m.