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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – The Calera Eagles got back to winning ways in style with a big finish against a Class 7A foe in the Prattville Lions.

Calera defeated Prattville 16-6 in six innings on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at the Eagle Sports Complex in Calera to earn its second win of the season.

The Eagles got out of a two-on jam in the top of the first, but an error and single proved too much in the second inning as an RBI ground out put the Lions on the board with a 1-0 lead.

However, Calera responded right away, taking a lead-off walk before Isabella Overton ripped a triple into right field to tie the game. Prattville then made a pitching change, but three pitches later, Lily Townsend gave her team the 2-1 lead off an RBI double.

Five walks in the top of the third plated two runs for the Lions and restored their one-run lead, but the Eagles once again wasted little time in overcoming the 3-2 deficit.

A Johnson single allowed Kinley Rodgers to reach off an error two batters later and brought Johnson home for the tying run. While the next batter struck out, Overton came up big yet again with an RBI single to take the 4-3 lead.

Townsend followed that up with another extra-base hit, this time an RBI triple to make the lead 5-3. On the next pitch, Carstensen reached base with a hit and turned one base into three with an error from the Prattville pitcher. That brought Townsend home for the 6-3 lead.

The Eagles gave up two more free base-runners in the top of the fourth, and that led to two RBI singles to plate three runs and tie the game back up at 6-6.

Calera struck back in the top of the fourth, but this time, it didn’t allow a single run in response over the next two innings.

Johnson and Mia Wade hit back-to-back one-out singles before Rodgers scored two runs off an RBI double for the 8-6 lead. Quintanilla then kept the run going with a single before Rodgers came home off a fielder’s choice during the ensuing at-bat.

Townsend and Carstensen then made it three-straight scoring plays as they hit RBI doubles on back-to-back pitches, with Townsend’s plating two runs and Carstensen’s making the lead 12-6.

Two batters later, Megan Overton capped off the inning’s scoring with an RBI double for the 13-6 advantage.

After surrendering just one walk in the top of the fifth, Calera got two of its first three batters to reach in the bottom of the fifth off a Wade single followed by a hit by pitch two batters later. Isabella Overton hit an RBI single on the next pitch, and Townsend made it 15-6 with an RBI groundout on the next at-bat.

From there, Johnson hit a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to finish off the run rule victory after the back-and-forth start to the game.

Isabella Overton, Townsend and Johnson each went 3-for-4 with Townsend earning five RBI and two runs, Overton taking four RBI and three runs and Johnson finishing with two runs and an RBI. Megan Overton, Wade, and Carstensen each had two-hit days in the 10-run win.

Calera would lose its next game to Helena 9-1 on Wednesday, Feb. 26 to fall to 2-7, but it will finish off the stretch of three games in three days on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 5 p.m. on the road at Marbury.