The top seeded Chillicothe Hornets faced the #2 seed Savannah Savages in the Class 3 District 8 championship game at Heritage Park in St Joe on Saturday.
The top two teams in the MEC on the year were both looking to advance to the state quarterfinals. Chillicothe started strong in the bottom of the first, the lead off batter Hope Donoho was walked and then advanced home on a hit by Tatum Palmer. Chillicothe’s 1-0 lead was erased in the 2nd. Addison Koehler got on base and then a couple of errors by the Lady Hornets infield allowed Lindley Eagleburger’s ground ball to score Koehler.
The game went into the 3rd tied at 1-1 when Savannah’s Macee Blythe delivered a no doubt home run over the fence to go ahead 2–1. Both teams displayed great pitching and defense the next several innings including Lady Hornets pitcher Landry Marsh who had 5 strikeouts in the contest. In the bottom of the fifth, down one, Senior Tori Stoner hit a deep triple but was unable to score the tying run when she was thrown out at home later in the inning.
In each the 6th and 7th innings Chillicothe advanced base runners to 2nd but were unable to score. Leading to a 2-1 district championship for Savannah.
The Chillicothe Lady Hornets softball season ends with a 23-6 record and a 5th straight MEC championship.