The Chillicothe Lady Hornets softball team was red hot entering their road game at Macon Thursday night. Chillicothe had won 12 straight games since the opening weekend of the season all the way back in August, and were 15-2 overall. In their way of another win was a talented Tigerettes team at 16-4 that had won 14 of their last 15 games. Macon’s only defeat in that time was an 8-5 loss in the Chilli Tournament at the hands of the Lady Hornets.
Macon was looking to extract revenge on their home field but it was Chillicothe to strike first when Hope Donoho’s leadoff single ended in a run batted in by Landry Marsh. Macon responded with a run of their own in the first with an RBI single from Reece Barnett. In the 4th inning Chillicothe retook the lead when Ellie Acree hit home Tatum Palmer but once again Macon came right back to tie it up in the bottom of the inning, as Barnett scored on an RBI from Keely Hicks. For the next three innings and the ones in between the scoring, the game belonged to the ladies in the circle. Macon’s Payton Weimer and Chillicothe’s Landry Marsh put on a classic pitching performance, Marsh struck out 11 Tigerettes and allowed just 9 hits while Weimer surrendered 7 hits with 12 strikeouts.
The two teams were tied at two through seven innings so the game went to extras. Both sides came excruciatingly close to scoring in the 8th as both Chillicothe and later Macon had two runners in scoring position with only 1 out but neither team was able to push their potential game winning run across the plate. Then in the 10th, Jaiden Rodenberg was walked and Molly Kennebeck came in to base run. After a Donoho sacrifice bunt, and a Marsh single, Chillicothe went ahead on a Palmer RBI bunt scoring Kennebeck. For the 2nd time in extra innings the Lady Hornets stranded two runners in scoring position but went into the bottom of the 10th up 3-2. After a pair of walks, and a single for the Tigerettes, freshman Maddie Claypoole hit an infield single to score Barnett which tied the game at 3 apiece. After a Marsh strikeout, another freshman Presley Applebury stepped up to the plate with 2 outs and the base loaded. Applebury delivered a hit into center field which brought Hicks home, a walk off winner for Macon.
The Lady Hornets drop their first game in over a month as Chillicothe is now 15-3 on the season and will compete in the Fatima Quad, playing three games on Saturday before looking to cap off an undefeated MEC slate at Leblond on Monday.
