By Brandon Sumrall/Special to The Advertiser

In a wooden bat baseball tournament hosted by Billingsley on March 14, the Bears (8-1 overall) continued their winning ways by picking up their seventh and eighth wins of the season over the Dallas County Hornets (8-0) and the Prattville Christian Lions (6-5).

After retiring the Hornets in order to start the game, the Bears scored the first run of the game in the home half of the first inning on a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Dalton Davis, who previously reached on a walk.

The Hornets managed two base runners in the top of the second, but a fly ball to center and strikeout brought the scoring threat to an end. Meanwhile, the Bears reeled off four more runs in the bottom half of the inning.

Consecutive singles by Hunter Godwin and Jarrett Acreman along with a walk by Kendall Elrod loaded the bases for Billingsley with no outs.

A walk by Garrett Harrell scored Godwin, and a Davis infield ground ball scored Acreman.

Powell scored Elrod on an infield ground ball, and a Joseph Nixon double to deep centerfield brought in Harrell.

After two, the Bears held a 5-0 lead.

The Bears’ defense retired the Hornets in order in the top of the third and the offense added another run in the bottom half of the inning.

A pitch off the knee of Davis pushed Godwin across home plate and extended the Bears lead to six.

The Hornets threatened in the top half of the fourth inning and advanced a runner as far as third before the Bears snuffed out the scoring threat while adding two more runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

A single by Thomas Nichols and a walk by Dylan Chavers led to a two-run single by Acreman.

The remaining two and a half innings went relatively quietly as the Bears coasted to an 8-0 win over the Hornets.

Acreman lead the Bears at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance with two singles and two RBI.

Jon Nixon handled pitching for Billingsley and threw five innings while allowing two hits, issuing four walks and recording four strikeouts.

Early runs by both teams followed by several innings of a defensive battle forced the Bears into some seventh inning heroics in order to pull out a 6-5 win over the Prattville Christian Lions in Game 3 of the day March 14.

With the Lions putting the Bears in an early 2-0 hole to start the game, the Bears answered in kind with two of their own in the bottom half of the first inning.

Davis started off the game with a double to deep centerfield, and a Powell single gave the Bears two runners on base with no out. Davis later scored on a Lions error, and a Chavers single scored Powell to tie the game at 2-all.

Both teams went quietly through the second inning, with the Lions going in order in the top of the third.

A two-out double by Joseph Nixon failed to add any runs for the Bears when a fly ball to centerfield brought the inning to an end and keep the score tied at 2-2.

The Lions again went down in order in the top of the fourth inning, and a one-out single by Noah Godwin in the bottom half of the inning did nothing to help the Bears as the score remained tied.

Prattville Christian broke the tie in the top of the fifth inning when a walk set up a run-scoring double by the Lions, and with the Bears going in order in the bottom half of the inning, the Lions held a 3-2 lead.

The Lions added two more runs in the top of the sixth inning, and with the Bears leaving two on in the bottom, the game came down to its final inning with Billingsley trailing 5-2.

Back-to-back two-out singles by the Lions in the top of the seventh were followed with an infield ground ball that allowed the Bears to escape the scoring threat with no more damage done.

Consecutive singles by Dubose and Harrell to start the bottom of the seventh were followed by Davis being hit by a pitch that loaded the bases for Billingsley with no outs.

A walk to Powell cut the Lions’ lead to two by scoring Dubose, while a Joseph Nixon single and drive in Harrell as well as Davis to tie the game at 5-5.

With Powell representing the winning run on second and a full count to Nichols, a shot back up the middle resulted in a double for Nichols and a game-winning run for the Bears as Powell came across home plate to give Billingsley its eighth win of the season.

Joseph Nixon led the Bears at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance with a single, double and one RBI.

Nichols pitched four innings for the Bears, allowing three hits, issuing two walks and recording four strikeouts.