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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Chelsea Hornets continued their strong stretch of softball with a pair of wins in their first games after spring break.

Chelsea defeated the Leeds Greenwave 10-0 in five innings on Tuesday, April 1 at the Chelsea Sports Complex before beating the Oak Mountain Eagles 8-2 on Wednesday, April 2 at Oak Mountain High School.

Before the first win of the week over Leeds, the Hornets honored their graduating senior class of 2025, including Sydney Carroll, Katie Hopson, Emma Parmley, Alaysha Crews and Allie Scott, on their senior night.

Chelsea got on the board in the bottom of the first inning as Lorelei Beck followed up a two-out double by Carroll with one of her own to take a 1-0 lead.

After a one-two-three top of the second, the extra-base hits kept coming as Alaysha Crews and Lauren Hilyer hit back-to-back doubles to start the inning. The latter drove home a run to double up the lead to 2-0. Two batters later, Scott singled to bring Hilyer home for the 3-0 lead.

An error and a Caroline Brown single loaded up the bases for Carroll, who drew a four-pitch walk to increase the lead to 4-0 and start a string of three-straight scoring plays.

Beck followed that up with an RBI single, and the Hornets made it a 7-0 lead after Sadie Wilson’s sacrifice fly brought home Carroll.

Chelsea got another two-on situation in the bottom of the fourth, but it wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth when the Hornets shut it down.

An error to start the inning put Crews on third, and a passed ball during the ensuing at-bat scored her for the eighth run of the game. Hilyer got aboard on a single shortly after that to put two aboard for Parmley.

The senior sent everyone home on senior night with a two-run home run that triggered the run rule and gave Chelsea a 10-0 win.

Parmley earned the win with 10 strikeouts in five shutout innings as she allowed just one hit and three walks. Her two-run home run helped her go 1-for-2 at the plate.

Beck was a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI and Hilyer finished 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI.

The next day against Oak Mountain, the Hornets struck first in the second inning off a Parmley single as it led to an error that scored Wilson for the 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, Hopson started the inning with a double before Chelsea fell in a two-out hole. She advanced to third off a passed ball during that sequence though as she came home off an RBI single from Beck.

The Hornets doubled up that lead in the top of the fourth as Olivia Palfreeman stepped to the plate with two outs and hit a two-run home run to put Chelsea in front 4-0.

However, the Eagles responded in the home half of the frame. After a one-out single from Brooke Monosky, Marian Cummings immediately hit a two-run home run on the first pitch she saw.

While that halved the deficit to 4-2, it would be the only runs of the game from Oak Mountain.

Carroll and Beck got aboard to start the top of the fifth, and Crews sent Carroll home with an RBI single to extend the lead to 5-2. Two batters later, Hilyer came up with an RBI single of her own as the lead grew to 6-2.

Two batters remained with one out, and while the next batter popped out to put the Hornets on the back foot with two outs, Palfreeman secured a big hit once again. This time, she ended a marathon at-bat with a two-run double to center for the 8-2 lead.

Crews finished off the win from the circle in the final two innings. She got the complete-game victory by allowing just two runs off seven hits, and she didn’t allow a walk in the win.

Palfreeman finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and a run. Carroll and Hopson also each went 2-for-4 as they each secured a run.

Cummings led the Oak Mountain offense with a 2-for-3 day with two RBI and a run, and Sophia Williams also finished 2-for-3.

Chelsea improved to 19-9-1 with the wins and will cap off its stretch of three games in three days when it hosts the Mortimer Jordan Blue Devils on Thursday, April 3 at 4:30 p.m.

The Eagles fell to 11-10 and will resume area play on Thursday, April 3 at 4:30 p.m. when they hit the road to face the Hoover Bucs.