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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

FAYETTEVILLE – The Shelby County Wildcats followed up on a win in their final regular season area game against Central-Clay County with a victory over the Fayetteville Wolves.

Shelby County defeated Fayetteville 11-4 on Monday, April 14 at Fayetteville High School to sweep the season series after it won 4-0 on Feb. 27.

The first two innings came and went without a run, but the Wildcats got into a two-on, two-out situation in the top of the third. With Danslen Connell coming to the plate and runners on first and second, she singled on the first pitch she saw to take a 1-0 lead.

However, the Wolves equalized in the bottom half of the inning. After an error and a single left them in their own two-on, two-out situation, Fayetteville got the tying run on a passed ball during the final at-bat of the inning.

Another passed ball in the bottom of the fourth gave the Wolves a 2-1 lead after they capitalized on a pair of walks.

While the fifth inning came and went without a run, Shelby County got a two-out rally going in the top of the sixth. An error and a Madison Tolleson single put two on for Madelyn Minton, and she came up with a single to tie the game at 2-2.

From there, Catelynn Davis plated two runs to take the 4-2 lead, and Nancy Hall followed that up with an RBI double, which increased the lead to 5-2.

Fayetteville responded with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth, but the Wildcats slammed the door shut in the top of the seventh.

With two on from a walk and an error with one out, Aaliyah Chaisson doubled to left to score both runners and make it a 7-3 game. The next batter walked to put two on for Minton, and she also got an RBI double for the 8-3 lead. Davis then earned another scoring hit with a first-pitch RBI single.

With the lead at 9-3, Shelby County took a strikeout on its next at-bat, but Bland ripped the first pitch she saw to center to increase the lead to 11-3 with a pair of runs off a double.

The Wolves would get one back by stealing home in the bottom of the seventh, but the Wildcats got the final two outs they needed after that to seal the 11-4 win.

Tolleson was 2-for-3 with two runs and a walk, Davis finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs and Minton went 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs. Bland and Chaisson each had two RBI in 1-for-4 performances.

Danslen Connell finished with six strikeouts in a four-inning start while Chaisson got the win with four strikeouts in three innings against two runs, four hits and a walk.

Shelby County moved to 11-5 with the win and will play its first of two games against the Thorsby Rebels on Thursday, April 17 at 4:30 p.m. ahead of tournament play in Childersburg over the weekend.

The Wildcats will then finish the regular season with another game against Thorsby on Monday, April 21 at 4:30 p.m. and a short road trip to the Maplesville Red Devils on Tuesday, April 22 at 4:30 p.m.