Cascade Lady Champions softball is on the brink of elimination after losing at Chapel Hill, 16-6, on Tuesday night to start 0-1 in the District 9-AA Tournament. 

In a game that began on Monday evening, the Lady Champs’ came up short against Chapel Hill after losing via run-rule, 16-6, in a game that was played over the course of two days. 

The Lady Rockets led 7-4 in the bottom of the third inning when a weather delay forced game administrators to postpone the remainder of the game to the following day. 

Cascade finished with more hits than the Lady Rockets, but it was the free passes issued by their pitching – 13 in all – that cost them in the end.

Brianna Horn got the start in the circle for the Lady Champs, and she threw all 5.1 innings over both days, allowing 16 runs with 11 earned on just three hits but issued 13 free passes and 10 HBPs while striking out five on 179 total pitches.

Taylor Moreland started in the circle for Chapel Hill on Monday, throwing two innings and giving up four runs with three earned on three hits and two walks while striking out three batters on 42 pitches.

Ella Dippold came on in relief in the third inning, and she would stay in and get the final 12 outs over the next four innings on both Monday and Tuesday. She gave up just two runs on five hits and three walks while not striking out a single batter on 72 pitches. 

Cascade jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning after a leadoff walk followed by a single led to a sacrifice bunt from Alivia Fannin that drove home Ella Thompson. Horn immediately followed that with a grounder into center field that scored Momo Bilbro.

Momo Bilbro (12) slides home safely in the first inning vs Forrest.

Chapel Hill responded in the home half with four runs of their own, and after Moreland put up a zero in the top of the second inning, the Lady Rockets pushed across three more runs to extend their lead to 7-2. 

To start the third inning, Thompson had a leadoff single and Bilbro walked to set up two runners on with nobody out, prompting a change in the circle for Chapel Hill to bring in Dippold. Dippold immediately traded a pair of groundouts for just one Cascade run, and even after the Lady Champs pushed across another run on an infield single, the Lady Rockets still held a three-run lead, 7-4, going to the home half of the third inning. 

After a pair of HBPs from Horn, the rain came through to send everybody home for the night.

When everyone reconvened on Tuesday evening, Chapel Hill’s bats were itching to get back to the plate, and it showed as the Lady Rockets pushed across six runs to take a commanding 13-4 lead.

Cascade’s lineup was not deterred by the deficit as they threatened again in the top of the fourth, loading the bases with nobody out after a pair of walks and a single to start the inning. However, Dippold would settle down, inducing a ground ball to first base where Leslie Bartoli immediately threw home for the force out, saving a run. Another RBI single by Thompson followed, but that would be the only run the Lady Champs could push across.

Horn then settled down in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings, holding Chapel Hill scoreless for the first time, but Cascade could only muster up one run in the fifth and sixth. The Lady Rockets loaded the bases in the home half of the sixth after a HBP and two walks sandwiched around an infield pop out, and the hosts took advantage. After another HBP scored a run, back to back two-strike walks pushed across the final two runs needed to trigger the run-rule as Chapel Hill picked up their 26th win of the season.

Thompson accounted for three of Cascade’s six total hits, going 3-3 with one RBI, a walk, and a run scored. Bilbro went 1-3 with a walk and two runs scored, Fannin went 0-2 with one RBI on a walk, and Horn went 2-3 with a solo home run in the fifth inning and drove home three runs. Kyndal Bolden also went 1-3 with one RBI and a strikeout while Alayna Cruse also tallied a base hit.

The Lady Champs’ fall to 4-16 (2-6) and will play in an elimination game on Thursday night against Cannon County.