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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – When the Calera Eagles needed someone to step up, they got one in Megan Overton.

Stepping up to the plate with one on and one out in the bottom of the seventh, she ripped an RBI triple to right to complete the comeback in a back-and-forth area battle with the Chilton County Tigers.

Her hit gave Calera a 7-6 win on Thursday, March 20 at the Eagle Sports Complex to kick off Class 6A, Area 5 play with just its fourth overall victory of the year.

The Eagles started out the game in front after a Kinley Rodgers RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the first gave them a 1-0 lead. Overton then came up with an RBI single on the ensuing at-bat to take the lead to 2-0.

Calera got out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the second, but it wasn’t so lucky in the top of the third when a walk and a one-out error allowed Chilton County to cut the deficit to 2-1 off a sacrifice fly.

The Eagles would respond in the bottom of the fourth though. After Lily Townsend hit a lead-off single, the next two batters got out, but a ground out and a stolen base put her on third. That let Neeley Carstensen drive her home and make it a 3-1 lead at the end of the inning.

Three-straight errors proved costly for Calera in the top of the fifth, leaving two on and two outs for the Tigers to tie the game up at 3-3 off a two-run double.

The Eagles got a measure of revenge in the bottom of the fifth as a one-out error got the ball rolling for them. Rodgers then launched a triple to right to retake a one-run lead ahead of an Overton bunt single that made the lead 5-3.

Chilton County almost immediately tied up the game in the top of the sixth when a lead-off single was followed by an error and then a two-run RBI single. While that tied the game at 5-5, the Tigers took a 6-5 lead two batters later off an RBI single.

Neither team got a run in their next turn at the plate, but Calera wasted little time tying up the game in the bottom of the ninth when Alexi Johnson hit a solo shot on the second pitch of the at-bat.

Rodgers followed that up with a single two batters later, and that set up Overton to win the game off her RBI triple.

Overton and Rodgers each finished 3-for-4 as Overton earned three RBI while Rodgers had three runs and two RBI. Johnson went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI.

The Eagles improved to 4-12 overall and 1-0 in area play with the win. They will look to make it two area wins in a row when they travel to Alexander City to face the Benjamin Russell Wildcats on Tuesday, April 1 at 5 p.m.