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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – The Chelsea Hornets rode a dominant performance on both offense and defense to success as they took care of business against a Class 7A foe not one, but twice in the same day.

Chelsea defeated the Smiths Station Panthers 10-0 in game one before winning 12-4 in game two of a same-day doubleheader on Saturday, March 8 at the Chelsea Sports Complex.

In the first game of the day, the Hornets got a dominant pitching performance from Aiden Hughes as he earned the win with 4.2 shutout innings, striking out eight against two hits and four walks.

Chelsea used that as a foundation to build off of on offense, starting with a Paxton Stallings RBI single in the bottom of the first.

The next inning, the Hornets got the benefit of a pair of free baserunners to extend the lead to 2-0 off a Hughes RBI single as he provided his own run support.

After Chelsea went scoreless in the third and fourth innings, they survived a tense bases-loaded situation in the top of the fifth. From there, three of the first four batters of the bottom of the fifth reached freely for the Hornets, setting themselves up for a big inning.

An error off a Luke Neill ground ball took the lead to 4-0 before a hit batsman loaded up the bases. Jaxson Dohrman took advantage with an RBI single on the first pitch he saw, and Aiden Craven followed it up with a sacrifice fly to take the lead to 6-0 ahead of the end of the inning.

Chelsea then loaded up the bases on the first three batters of the bottom of the sixth off an error and a pair of hit batsmen. From there, the Hornets closed the job over the next three at bats thanks to a Neill RBI single, Logan Carson two-run double and a Payton Hunsaker pinch-hit sacrifice fly.

Neill finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs while Dohrman was 2-for-2 with a walk and an RBI.

The second game saw the Hornets take control early once again off the bat of Stallings. He hit an RBI single in the bottom of the second with two outs, taking the first pitch he saw to left to put his team up 1-0.

However, a hit by pitch and a single in the top of the second led to Smiths Station’s first run of the day. A sacrifice fly tied the game up at 1-1, but Jackson Price didn’t allow the Panthers to take the lead as he struck out the next batter before Cade Mims picked off a runner at third.

The Panthers would go up in the top of the third as they used a lead-off walk to set up a two-run shot with one out, taking a 3-1 lead and forcing Chelsea to respond.

The Hornets did just that as their first four batters of the bottom of the third all reached. Stallings got an RBI single during the sequence before Mims scored on a passed ball during the ensuing at-bat.

With runners on the corners, nobody out and a freshly tied 3-3 ball game, Neill brought Stallings home off a ground out to restore the 4-3 lead.

That lead would be short-lived though as three base-runners on Smiths Station’s first four batters of the top of the fourth turned into the tying run off a sacrifice fly.

That would be the last offense of the day from the Panthers as Chelsea went on to score eight unanswered runs starting with the bottom half of the fourth.

A pair of singles from Craven and Chase Lackey along with a Hughes walk loaded up the bases with no outs to start the half-inning. Mims was then hit by a pitch from the go-ahead run, but the Hornets then suffered back-to-back outs off an infield fly and sacrifice fly.

The sacrifice play made the lead 6-4 though and set up a big stretch from the Chelsea offense. Within a span of five pitches, Neill hit an RBI single, Carson ripped a two-run triple to left and Dohrman plated another run off an RBI single for the 10-4 lead.

The Hornets then navigated another bases-loaded jam to get out of the top of the fifth inning. They capitalized on their momentum with an RBI double from Mims following a lead-off single from Lackey.

Lackey was then the one to finish off the 12-4 victory in the bottom of the sixth with a one-out RBI single off a grounder to left.

Lackey finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and four runs while Mims was 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run, Stallings went 2-for-5 with two RBI and a run and Dohrman came away with a 2-for-4 performance with an RBI and a run.

Chelsea improved to 11-6 with the wins and will have another Class 7A matchup on their hands when they host the Prattville Lions on Tuesday, March 11 at 7 p.m. at the Chelsea Sports Complex.