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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Shelby County Wildcats finished off area play in dominant fashion as they plated 14 runs in a big offensive showing at home.

Shelby County defeated the Sylacauga Aggies 14-3 in five innings on Thursday, April 10 at Shelby County High School, sweeping the series between the area foes and capping off a 4-2 area record for the Wildcats.

Shelby County got going in the bottom of the first, loading up the bases to start the inning with a Nate Byrne single followed by a hit batter and a walk. Back-to-back errors plated the first two runs of the day and left the bases loaded for Campbell Aderholt, who ripped a single to right to double up the lead to 4-0.

The Wildcats got another pair of free base runners in the bottom of the second to put two on with one out for Cooper Pennington, who grounded out to short. The Aggies tried to turn a double play to end the inning, but they could only get one of the outs they needed, allowing Skyler Smith to score and extend the lead to 5-0.

Shelby County miscues in the top of the third allowed Sylacauga to close the gap, first off an RBI ground out before an error two batters later made it a 5-2 game. The Aggies then cut the deficit to 5-3 off an RBI single.

A Hunter Dailey RBI double just before the end of the third made the lead 6-3 for the Wildcats, and they slammed the door shut from there in the final two innings.

After back-to-back singles to start the bottom of the fourth, Byrne scored off an error at third base. A dropped third strike shortly after that brought Colby Matherson home for the 8-3 lead.

Two batters later, Hunter King capitalized on Pennington advancing to third with an RBI single, and the basepaths filled up right after that with a hit batter and a walk. Amare Pickett brought another run home on a sacrifice fly before a balk scored Aderholt from third.

Tucker Busby then brought both of the remaining runners home with an RBI single to take the lead to 12-3.

Just like earlier in the inning, the next two batters reached freely off a walk and a hit by pitch to load up the bases. Pennington then scored two runs with an RBI single to finish off the 14-3 win.

Skyler Smith got the win with three strikeouts in two scoreless innings against two hits and a walk. Busby finished out the game with two hitless innings and four strikeouts against just one walk.

Byrne was 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs, King finished 2-for-3 with two RBI, Aderholt was a perfect 2-for-2 with two RBI and two runs and Pennington had four RBI and two runs in a 1-for-3 day at the plate.

The Wildcats are now 16-12 overall and will finish the regular season on Monday, April 14 at 5:30 p.m. with a game against the Altamont Knights.

Then, Shelby County will travel to Marbury for its first-round playoff series on Friday, April 18 at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m.