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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – In a clash of the county titans, the Thompson Warriors flexed their might from the pitching circle as they overcame miscues to secure a dominant win.

Thompson defeated the Helena Huskies 6-1 on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Helena High School in a battle of one-loss teams with their eyes set on Oxford.

The early stretch of the game saw both teams frequently fill up the base-paths, but only one side successfully capitalized on those chances.

Olivia Tindell and Kadyn Bush got the Warriors going with back-to-back one-out singles in the top of the first, but Carrington got out of the inning with a strikeout and ground-out.

On the other side, Aubree Hooks was hit-or-miss in the first inning. While she grabbed three strikeouts with strong pitch placement, she surrendered a walk and hit a batter before an infield error loaded the bases with two outs.

After she got out of the inning, Morgan Adolphus and Whitney Holtzapfel hit one-out singles to put Helena under pressure. 16 struck out the next batter, but Kelsey Burden dropped a ball into center field to put the Warriors on the board with the opening run.

A miscue at first base to start the second inning led to 36 reaching third base off a 25 sacrifice bunt. Henley Traywick got plunked by a pitch afterwards, and two batters later, 24 drew a walk to load up the bases. However, a ground out to second ended the scoring threat.

From there, Thompson rallied with three straight singles to start the third. Mallory Flournoy capped the sequence with line drive to center that doubled up the lead to 2-0. Helena recovered to get three of the next four batters out but came up empty in the bottom half of the inning after a double play killed its momentum.

Thompson got another two-on opportunity with one out in the top of the fourth, but that was the last hit for either team until the top of the sixth, when the Warriors rallied again.

Buoyed by two quick outs from Autumn Ingle after she came in for Aubree Hooks after 4.1 innings, Thompson got a pair of singles from  Blakely Davis and Kelsey Burden to start the sixth off strong.

Olivia Tindell then sent a tricky ground ball towards first base that caught the Huskies between two minds: get the out at third or first. They ended up getting neither as the bases filled up.

Then, Kadyn Bush pinch hit for Destinee Ealy and got a ground ball to right field to score Davis. The Huskies tried for the long throw to the plate, but Burden beat out the tag to take the lead to 4-0.

That ended Schiefer’s day, and while Marlee Parsons worked three quick ground outs, Hannah Hobbs and Mallory Flournoy plated runs off two of them to make it a 6-0 lead.

After Destiny Brashears drew a lead-off walk, Ingle registered a pair of punch-outs to extend Thompson’s no-hit bid to 5.2 innings.

However, Tatum Cooper ended the drought in emphatic fashion, ripping a double to center field and getting Brashears home on the throw, making the score 6-1 with Helena’s first run of the game off its first hit.

Thompson took care of business from there, overcoming strong bullpen pitching from Parsons and ending the game off a double play to seal the 6-1 win.

Hooks took the win with no hits or runs in 5.1 innings, striking out six while walking three. Ingle gave up just one hit and one run in 2.2 innings of relief with two strikeouts against two walks.

Bush finished a perfect 4-for-4 with two RBI and a run. Burden went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI while Adolphus was 2-for-4 with a run.

The Warriors improved to 11-1 with the win and will have another county test on its hands against Oak Mountain on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m. at Oak Mountain High School.

Helena will have a quick turnaround as it looks to improve its 9-2 record with a trip to Calera to face the Eagles on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 5 p.m. at the Eagle Sports Complex.