By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

Isabella’s varsity softball team was not a very gracious host on Saturday in the Mustang Invitational softball tournament as the Mustangs did not allow a single run all day on their way to a tournament championship.

Isabella got the day started with a decisive 10-0 win over Thorsby.

After only one hit in the first inning, the Mustangs wouldn’t go quietly through the top of the second inning as Chelsea Cox and Chandler Kirkland started the inning with back-to-back singles. With a third straight single by Alexis Burnett, the Mustangs took an early 1-0 lead.

Victoria Fletcher started the top of the third with a double to deep left field for the Mustangs, setting up a run-scoring single by Haley Underwood to make the score 2-0.

Kacie Adams followed with a two-run double to center to make the Isabella lead four runs, and with a run-scoring single to left by Kirkland, Isabella led 5-0.

A two-out single to center field by Charlet Childress followed by a single by Kayla Cleckler had Thorsby threatening, but the Rebels left both runners stranded on base in the bottom half of the third inning.

Consecutive singles by Jayda Jones and Makaela Littleton set up a sacrifice fly to right by Fletcher to make the score 6-0, and a run-scoring single by Underwood extended the Mustangs’ lead to seven.

With two strikeouts by Cox for the Mustangs in the bottom half of the fifth, a pop up to Caley Booth brought the inning to a close and took the game to the sixth inning.

Booth started off the top of the sixth inning with a walk, and after stealing second, she advanced to third and then on to home on wild pitches.

Run-scoring singles by Kirkland and Adams gave the Mustangs a 10-0 lead and put the Rebels in a must-score situation in the bottom half of the inning.

With a leadoff pop up to second base, a grounder back to the mound brought the game down to its final out.

Cox picked up her eighth strikeout of the game, and the Mustangs earned an opening-round win.

The IHS win set up a second round matchup with the Chilton County Tigers, who got a bye in Round 1, but another Isabella shutout (2-0) allowed the Mustangs to advance and await the winner of an elimination game between the Tigers and Rebels.

CCHS advanced with a 7-0 win over the Rebels, but with the Mustangs pitching a third shutout, Isabella knocked off the Tigers 2-0 to claim first place in the tournament.