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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – Two of the top teams in Class 6A did battle on Thursday, March 20 at the Chelsea Sports Complex, and in a lengthy battle of titans, the Chelsea Hornets prevailed over the Helena Huskies.

Lorelei Beck’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth gave Chelsea an 8-7 win over Helena to improve to 2-1 in area play.

The Huskies opened up the early lead after Macie Brashears scored off a passed ball in the top of the first.

Chelsea quickly tied up the game with a two-out rally in the bottom of the first. After Sydney Carroll drew a walk with two outs, Beck drove her home from first off a double to center, tying the game at 1-1.

After a scoreless second, a single, sacrifice bunt and a walk put two on and one out for Helena in the top of the third. While the next batter popped out, chaos ensued on the next at-bat.

Gracie Storey scored off a passed ball, and after Brashears reached third on the same pitch, she quickly came home to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead.

Beck got one back in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of a two-out single from Caroline Brown to score her from second and cut the deficit to 3-2.

After an error let Emma Parmley reach to start the bottom of the fourth, the Hornets used that lead-off base runner to tie up the game.

However, a one-out walk in the top of the fifth proved costly as Lily Sanderson followed it up with an RBI triple to give Helena a 4-3 lead. That lead became two runs just two batters later when Sanderson came home off a wild pitch.

After the Huskies made a pitching change in the bottom of the fifth, Chelsea quickly got in business off a Brown lead-off single and a Carroll walk. From there, Beck’s bat led to another run, but this time off an infield error.

Alaysha Crews sent another run in off a ground out on the next pitch to tie the game up at 5-5, and Parmley got another RBI ground out for the go-ahead run.

The Hornets then held Helena scoreless in the top of the sixth before going on a two-out rally in the home half of the inning. After a Katie Hopson double, Brown secured an RBI single to take the lead to 7-5 ahead of the seventh inning.

The Huskies found some life in the top of the seventh with two walks on the first three batters. Chelsea made a pitching change and got a pop out to get within an out of taking the win, but not before Addison Draiss stepped to the plate.

Facing a 1-0 pitch, she doubled to center to clear the bases and tie the game at 7-7.

While the next two batters walked to load up the bases, Crews secured a strikeout to avoid the go-ahead run scoring.

The teams remained in a scoreless deadlock through the rest of the seventh and eighth innings. Helena could only get a walk in the top of the ninth to bring up the Hornets in the home half of the frame.

Brown reached base on a lead-off error, and two batters later, Beck singled to center to bring her home from second for the walk-off run.

Beck finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and one run while Brown went 3-for-5 with three runs and an RBI.

Parmley took the win with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Crews secured the save with 2.2 shutout innings of relief, earning three strikeouts against two hits and four walks.

As for Helena, Draiss led the offense with two RBI in her 1-for-4 performance with a walk. Macie Brashears went 1-for-1 with four walks and four runs while Hayden Traywick drew three walks.

The Hornets improved to 14-8-1 overall and 2-1 in area play with the win. They will compete in the Gulf Coast Classic III from March 24-26 in Gulf Shores.

The Huskies headed into spring break with a 14-8-2 record and 2-1 mark in the area and will resume area play on Wednesday, April 2 at 4:30 p.m. at home against the Pelham Panthers.