By Brandon Sumrall/Special to the Advertiser

The Billingsley Bears and Chilton County Tigers took to the road on April 4 to take part in the Prattville Christian Classic Softball tournament. 

A four-run bottom of the first inning for the Tigers gave them an early lead, a lead they never relinquished on their way to a 9-2 win over the Bears.

After a three-up, three-down inning by the Bears, Chilton County’s Cassie Phillips got the bottom half of the inning started with a single up the middle.

A double by Kricket Caton put two aboard with one out. Gabriel Kelley scored Phillips with a single, and a single by Taylor Smitherman scored Caton.

Kelley later scored on a wild pitch, and with a single by Caitlin Burnett, Chilton County held an early 4-0 lead.

Singles by Casey Headley and Karsan Tindol did little to help the Bears in the top of the second inning, while the Tigers added one more in the bottom half of the inning when a Phillips double led to an RBI single by Kelley.

After two innings, the Tigers held a 5-0 lead.

The Bears got on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning on a Madison Motley double to centerfield that scored Abby Tindol to cut the Tigers’ lead to four.

The Tigers weren’t done on the offensive side, adding four more runs in the home half of the fourth.

A walk to Anastasia Pitts and back-to-back bunts by Burnette and Phillips loaded the bases for the Tigers with one out.

A walk to Caton scored Pitts, and a double by Kelley scored Burnette and Phillips. Caton later scored on a passed ball at the plate to give Chilton County a 9-1 lead after three innings of play.

Makaela Tindol led the Bears off with a walk to start the fourth, but a single by Glass didn’t help the Bears’ cause, as Billingsley ended the top of the fourth still down eight.

With the Tigers going in order through the home half of the inning, the Bears were down to their final three outs.

A Motley one-out double led to a two-out RBI by Anna Asbury, but an infield fly ball brought the game to an end and gave the Tigers a 9-2 win.

Kelley led the Tigers, going 3-for-3 at the plate with two singles, a double and four RBI’s. Brianna Connell threw five innings for the Tigers with one strikeout, six hits and one earned run.

Motley led the Bears with a 2-for-3 performance with two doubles and an RBI.

With the loss to the Tigers, the Bears were forced to play again in the opening round of the single-elimination portion of the tournament. Despite an early lead, the Bears faltered 3-2 to the Charles Henderson Trojans.

The Tigers faced off against the Pike County High Bulldogs in Game 2 of the tournament and with a seven-run third, pulled off a 14-10 win in Round 1. Taylor Smitherman led the Tigers at the plate against the Bulldogs with a 3-for-3 performance with a double and two singles.

With the win, the Tigers advanced to Round 2 to take on the hosting Lions.

Against the Lions, however, the Tigers came up short, 6-5.

The Tigers tied the game at 5-all with just nine minutes left in the game, as per tournament rules the games were on a 75-minute time limit.

Unfortunately, the Lions picked up a run in the bottom of the sixth after holding the Tigers scoreless in the top half of the inning to take the win.