ALBERTVILLE, Ala. – The Vinemont Eagles hit the road to begin their run at this year’s 3A East Regional Tournament at Sand Mountain Park in Albertville and after dropping their first game of the day to Hokes Bluff, they bounced back with a win over Geraldine to keep their season alive. Vinemont will be back on the field at 9 a.m. Thursday for an elimination game against Glencoe or Plainview.
Hokes Bluff 15 – Vinemont 5 (Game One)
Hokes Bluff took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first but after Katelyn Evans and Maci Smith led off the top of the second with back to back singles, Brooklyn Knott laid down a sacrifice bunt to give the Eagles a pair of runners in scoring position. A few pitches later, Jadyn Knott scored on an RBI groundout from Emma Dortch to cut the lead to 2-1. Hokes Bluff put together a big second inning, plating five runs to stretch the lead to 7-1 going into the third.
An RBI single off the bat of Haley Millwood trimmed the lead to 7-2 in the top of the third and the Eagles continued to chip away at the deficit in the fourth. Abby Kuykendall drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in a run, Arleigh Thomason knocked a single into left field to drive in another and Callie Millwood drew another walk with bases loaded to make it a 7-5 game. However, the Eagles were unable to put any more runs on the board over the next two innings and Hokes Bluff pulled away with a 15-5 win.
Thomason (one RBI) and Smith each posted a pair of hits in the loss and Dortch and Haley Millwood each added a hit and an RBI as well.
Vinemont 7 – Geraldine 3 (Game Two)
Arleigh Thomason and Callie Millwood led off the bottom of the first with back to back singles and after Haley Millwood drew a walk to load the bases, Katelyn Evans barreled up a 2-run double to give Vinemont an early lead. Maci Smith squared up an RBI single two pitches later to make it a 3-0 game and she scored on a passed ball later in the inning to put the Eagles in front 4-0 going into the second inning.
Geraldine cut the lead to 4-1 in the top of the second, but Vinemont got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when Thomason brough Abby Kuykendall home to score with a sacrifice bunt. The Bulldogs plated another run in the third to trim the lead to 5-2 and after a scoreless fourth inning, Geraldine was able to bring the lead down to 5-3 in the top of fifth.
The Eagles responded in the bottom half of the inning, moving ahead 6-3 with an RBI single from Emma Dortch. An RBI single from Haley Millwood extended the lead to 7-3 in the bottom of the sixth and Vinemont collected the final three outs in the following frame to wrap up a 7-3 win.
Dortch (one RBI) finished 3-for-3 at the plate and Smith (one RBI) and Haley Millwood (one RBI) each posted a pair of hits as well.
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