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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Shelby County Wildcats are one step closer to defending their area championship from last season after a pair of offensive surges against the Central Volunteers of Clay County.

Shelby County defeated Central-Clay County 12-0 in five innings on Tuesday, March 20 at Shelby County High School ahead of a 10-5 victory in eight innings on Thursday, March 20 at Central High School in Lineville.

In the first game of the series, the Wildcats got to work early with a two-out solo home run from Cooper Pennington in the bottom of the first. That gave Shelby County a 1-0 lead that it would never relinquish.

A Cale Blevins single followed by an error put two on with no outs in the bottom of the second for Davis Ruston. Disaster struck for the Vols in the form of another error, this time scoring Blevins from third.

After Ruston walked to keep the rally going, a balk allowed Skylar Smith to come home ahead of a fly out from Amare Pickett that took the lead to 4-0.

While the next two batters singled, Central got a runner out at third to reduce the hosts to two outs. However, a pair of errors let Colby Matherson come home for the 5-0 lead.

In the next inning, a walk, Ruston single and a hit batsman loaded up the bases on the first three at-bats of the bottom of the third. Smith then scored after the Vols opted to get the out at second on a fielder’s choice.

That lead soon became 8-0 after a balk and a passed ball plated another pair of runs.

Matherson was then hit by a pitch and reached third off a stolen base and a ground out. Central tried to get around Pennington with an intentional walk, but another balk took the lead to 9-0.

Shelby County then capped off the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with a run off an error and a pair of RBI singles from Presley Duke and the pinch-hitter Ethan Hall.

Ruston finished 2-for-2 with a walk while Presley Duke came off the bench to finish 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run.

Pennington got the win with three shutout innings, allowing just one hit and two walks while earning three strikeouts.

In the second game of the series, it was the Vols who got on the board first following a lead-off triple in the bottom of the first. They followed it up with an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead, and two batters later, they doubled up the lead with an RBI double.

A one-out single in the top of the second allowed the Wildcats to strike back. Two batters later, Hall came up with an RBI single before an error allowed Duke to come home and tie the game at 2-2.

The score then remained tied until the bottom of the fifth when a Central triple allowed a runner to come home during the ensuing at-bat off a passed ball, giving the Vols a 3-2 lead.

Shelby County had to wait until the top of the seventh to get back on the scoreboard but made the most of its last chance to respond.

After Hall reached on a hit by pitch right after a pitching change, Matherson bunted and plated a run to tie the game before advancing to third. He would come home just three pitches later off a Nate Byrne RBI single to take a 4-3 lead.

Two batters later, the Wildcats made their lead two runs off a passed ball, but Central overcame the deficit in the bottom half of the inning.

The Vols put a pair of runners on with one out thanks to a lead-off single and a walk, and with two outs on the scoreboard, an error allowed them to tie the game at 5-5 and force extras.

Shelby County loaded up the bases on the first three batters of the eighth, getting a bunt single from Smith followed by a hit batsman and an error. Two batters after filling the base paths, Byrne singled on the first pitch he saw to retake a two-run lead.

The Wildcats weren’t done as an intentional walk to try and force a double play preceded a bases-loaded hit by pitch to score another run. Two more runs came home off a Blevins fly out to seal the 10-5 win.

Byrne led the offense with three RBI and two runs off a 2-for-4 day. Hunter King went a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate before coming out, and Blevins earned two RBI off a pair of outs.

After Hunter Dailey earned nine strikeouts in the first six innings, Pennington got the win with two innings of relief where he allowed no earned runs, one hit and two walks while striking out five.

Shelby County improved to 10-8 overall and 2-0 in area play with the wins. The Wildcats will be in tournament action over spring break at Sweetwater High School in Knoxville, Tennessee starting Tuesday, March 25 at 8 p.m. against Coalfield.