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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CALERA – After dropping their last meeting with the Benjamin Russell Wildcats 9-7, the Calera Eagles found themselves in a must-win situation if they wanted to keep their hope of hosting the Class 6A, Area 5 tournament alive.

They came up with a victory right when they needed to, defeating the Wildcats 7-5 on Tuesday, April 8 at the Eagle Sports Complex to improve to 2-1 in area play.

Benjamin Russell got out to an early 2-0 lead after it turned a one-out single and a hit by pitch into a pair of RBI singles.

It took the Eagles until the bottom of the third inning to respond, but they did so emphatically. Isabella Overton hit a one-out triple to spark a rally as Mia Wade drove her home with an RBI single before coming home off an RBI single from Kinley Rodgers.

That tied the game at 2-2 before Calera dipped into a two-out hole. Megan Overton kept the inning alive with the go-ahead run, and after an Alexi Johnson walk, Lily Townsend made the lead 4-2 off an RBI single to left.

After a scoreless fourth, the Eagles went back to work to extend the lead in the bottom of the fifth. After singles from Rodgers and Megan Overton put runners on the corners with one out, Johnson singled to bring home Rodgers for the 5-2 lead.

That was the first of three-straight scoring plays for Calera as a Townsend ground out and an Alyssa Quintanilla RBI single made it a 7-2 ball game.

Benjamin Russell made one final stand in the top of the seventh after the first two batters of the inning reached on a hit by pitch and a single. The Wildcats got a run home on a ground out before an outfield error cut the deficit to 7-4, and they made it a two-run game on the next play, an RBI single to center.

However, Isabella Overton caught a runner stealing at second before Stella Schilleci worked a ground out to short to end the game and take the 7-5 win.

She secured the complete-game win as three of the five runs against her were earned, and she worked around nine hits and one walk to earn the victory.

Overton was 2-for-2 with a walk, RBI and a run. Wade and Rodgers both finished 2-for-4 as Rodgers earned two runs and an RBI while Wade had an RBI and a run. Townsend had two RBI in a 1-for-2 day.

Calera will finish out area play on Thursday, April 10 at 5 p.m. with a road game against the Chilton County Tigers as it goes for the regular-season series sweep.