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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Briarwood Christian Lions and Shelby County Wildcats dueled it out in a crucial area matchup on Thursday, April 10, and after needing extra innings to separate the two teams, Briarwood took the lead for good and held on to it in the eighth inning.

The Lions defeated Shelby County 10-8 in eight innings at Shelby County High School to split the regular-season series between the two county foes.

After the Wildcats won their first meeting 16-10 on Monday, March 17, Briarwood took the early 1-0 lead in the second contest when Larsen Cummings drove in Scout Staggs ahead of the end of the top of the first.

While the second inning came and went without a run, a pair of walks and a Staggs single loaded up the bases for the Lions. MK Sweat scored off a wild pitch during the ensuing at-bat, which ended with an Abigail Coker line-drive hit to right that scored two runs for the 4-0 lead.

Coker was called out at second, but Cummings briefly kept the rally going with a solo home run for the 5-0 lead.

Shelby County wouldn’t get on the scoreboard until the bottom of the fourth when a walk and a Danslen Connell double set up Aaliyah Chaisson to drive in two runs and cut the deficit to 5-2.

The Wildcats got a chance to continue that rally in the home half of the fifth inning. Caitlan Bland reached on a one-out double before a walk and an error loaded up the bases for Connell.

On the first pitch she saw, Connell sent it to center field for a two-run double, making it a one-run game.

While the next batter struck out, a wild pitch allowed Kaydence Connell to come home from third. Madison Tolleson then reached on an infield error that scored Danslen Connell for the go-ahead run and the 6-5 lead.

A walk on the ensuing at-bat kept the inning alive long enough for Catelynn Davis to get a hit to left and take the lead to 7-5.

Briarwood responded with a rally in the top of the sixth that was capped by a Peyton Davis RBI double, but it couldn’t tie up the game in the sixth inning. However, down to their last out, the Lions got a big piece of hitting from Ashley Heinemann, who secured a solo home run to tie the game at 7-7.

Briarwood got a pair of base runners on after that but couldn’t capitalize, and Cummings worked a one-two-three inning to get to the eighth.

The Lions wasted little time going up in the top of the eighth with a Mary Kathryn Sweatt solo shot just three pitches into the extra inning.

Staggs followed that up with a single, and after advancing on a wild pitch, she came home on a Coker RBI single to make the lead 9-7. Cummings then generated a run off an infield error, putting Briarwood up 10-7 going into the bottom of the inning.

The Lions worked a pair of outs to start the inning before a walk and an error kept the inning alive. Danslen Connell then hit an RBI single to cut the gap to two runs, but the next batter flew out to end the game and give Briarwood the win.

Staggs was 3-for-4 with a walk and three runs, and Davis and Heinemann each finished 3-for-5 as Heinemann had a run in addition to her solo home run and Davis earned an RBI. Sweatt went 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI and Coker was 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run.

Cummings went the distance for all eight innings, throwing for 14 strikeouts in eight innings while giving up seven hits and five walks. Just three of the eight runs that crossed home were earned runs. She also went 2-for-5 from the clean-up spot with two RBI and a run.

As for Shelby County, Danslen Connell finished 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs. Chaisson earned seven strikeouts in a complete-game loss.

Briarwood lost its next game against John Carroll 15-7 on Monday, April 14. The 7-14-1 Lions will finish the regular season with a road trip to the Central Volunteers of Clay County on Tuesday, April 15 at 4:30 p.m. for the final game of area play.