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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Chelsea Hornets used the lessons learned from some tough tests in their opening week to put together a strong run at the PBR South Alabama Showdown.

After a tight extra-inning loss to the Orange Beach Makos to begin the tournament, Chelsea defeated the Mobile Christian Leopards 4-2 on Friday, Feb. 21, the St. Paul’s Episcopal Saints 11-2 and Spanish Fort Toros 6-5 on Saturday, Feb. 22.

In the opening game against Orange Beach, the Hornets gave up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning to fall behind 2-0, but they worked their way back with a run off a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth and an Aiden Hughes RBI single in the top of the seventh.

However, back-to-back walks to start the bottom of the eighth for the Makos led to Chelsea intentionally walking the next batter to try and force a double play. However, the Hornets hit the next batter with a pitch to plate the winning run.

While Branson Hogan got tagged with the loss, he earned seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings while giving up one run, two hits and four walks.

The next day against Mobile Christian, the two teams went the first two innings without scoring a run before the Leopards got on the board in the top of the third with a two-out RBI single after a single, error and hit batsman loaded up the bases.

The Hornets got a golden opportunity to respond in the bottom of the third with a walk and a hit by pitch to put two on for Hughes. He came up big again with an RBI single to tie the game up at 1-1.

While the potential second run got out at home, a walk kept the inning alive for Hughes to score on a passed ball and take a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, Paxton Stallings’ lead-off double turned into an RBI double for Mack Breazeale and an RBI groundout from Luke Neill to increase the lead to 4-1.

From there, Chelsea’s defense kept Mobile Christian at bay and allowed just one run off a pop out in the top of the seventh en route to sealing the 4-2 win.

Stallings got the complete-game win, earning six strikeouts while working around two unearned runs, three hits and a walk.

That bounce-back win set up a dominant effort on Saturday, Feb. 22 starting with the first game of the day against St. Paul’s.

The first five innings of the game came and went without a run as Jackson Price dominated on the bump. He shut out the Saints while earning five strikeouts against five hits and no walks and capped off his day by striking out the final two batters of the fifth.

That set up Chase Lackey and Cade Mims to hit back-to-back singles before an RBI double by Stallings to break the deadlock. Breazeale then hit a two-run double made the lead 3-0, and those hits were just the start of a big inning.

While the next batter grounded out, Logan Carson had an RBI single to start a string of three straight singles, the third of which was a two-run single by Aiden Craven which put the Hornets up 6-0.

Chelsea went down to two outs on the next batter, but an error kept the inning alive for Mims to hit an RBI double. Stallings then got hit by a pitch to bring up Breazeale, who got his second two-run double of the inning to increase the lead to 10-0.

With the Hornets in run-rule territory, St. Paul’s loaded up the bases off a single, error and hit batsman before a second-straight hit by pitch cut the deficit to nine and kept the game going.

Chelsea scored off a passed ball in the top of the seventh before the Saints got an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh, but the Hornets still walked away with the 11-2 win.

Breazeale went 3-for-4 with all four of his RBI coming from his two RBI doubles. Cade Mims went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs, joining Neill and Jaxson Dohrman as the three batters to go 2-for-4.

Chelsea then faced Spanish Fort in its final game of the tournament, and it was a tight battle between two strong 6A sides.

The Toros took the lead in the top of the first with two outs after a single and a walk set them up to score off a wild pitch. They then added to the lead in the top of the third with a one-out RBI single.

Staring down a 2-0 hole, the Hornets capitalized off an error and a single to set up a big bottom of the third. Craven hit an RBI single to halve the deficit before Hughes singled to load the bases.

While the next batter got out on an infield fly, Mims and Stallings both got hit by pitches to give Chelsea a 3-2 lead. Breazeale hit into a sacrifice fly to bring Hughes home before Neill capped the inning with an RBI single for the 5-2 lead.

However, Spanish Fort rallied in response in the top of the fourth. A pair of lead-off singles turned into an RBI groundout to make the score 5-3. Even though the Hornets picked off a runner at second, a hit by pitch set up a two-run shot on the next play, which tied the game at 5-5.

Chelsea’s offense jumped all over the Toros in the bottom half of the fourth, getting two on off a Dohrman double and a Craven bunt single before Hughes hit an RBI single for the go-ahead run.

That lead held through the final three innings behind strong relief pitching from Cade Mims, who pitched three shutout innings for the save as the Hornets took the 6-5 win to end the tournament with a third-straight victory.

Hughes finished 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI, Dohrman went 2-for-3 with two runs and Neill was 2-for-3 with an RBI single.

Chelsea is now 4-4 after the tournament and will play on the road at Mountain Brook on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 4:30 p.m.