By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

A pitchers duel took extra innings and tie-breaker rules went the way of the Billingsley varsity softball team on Tuesday in a 2-1 win over Jemison.

A leadoff walk by Jessica Paschal gave the Panthers a base runner but a strikeout and two ground balls stranded Paschal on third base.

The Bears threatened as well with Abby Tindol reaching thanks to a Panther error and Madison Motley also reached on a walk.

However, a strikeout and ground ball ended the first with no runs for either team.

A two-out walk to Sara Epperson and a three-up, three-down bottom of the second for the Bears sent the game to the third with no runs and no hits.

Both teams went in order through the third inning as Casey Headley for Billingsley and Kennise Bolton for Jemison continued to retire the opposing batters.

A two-out single by Emma Allred in the top of the fourth was all of the offense for the Panthers, while the Bears were the first to get on the board with a bunt by Madison Motley that setup an RBI bunt by Spencer Simpson to give Billingsley a 1-0 lead.

The Billingsley lead was short lived as the Panthers answered with a run of their own thanks to a leadoff single by Epperson that helped set up an RBI double by Paschal to tie the game at 1-all.

With the Bears going in order through the home half of the fifth, the game remained tied heading to the sixth.

A three-up, three-down inning for the Panthers in the top of the sixth allowed the Bears a chance to take the lead in the bottom half of the inning.

Abby Tindol got things started with a leadoff single and advanced as far as third, but two consecutive outs along with a walk to Simpson and a ground ball to second brought the scoring threat to an end and sent the game to the seventh inning.

With Katlyn Childress having taken over the pitching duties for the Bears in the sixth, two strikeouts and a fly ball ended the Panthers half of the seventh, but a two-out single by Mackenzie glass resulted in no help for the Bears.

The eighth inning saw tie-breaker rules come into affect as each team placed a runner on second at the start of the inning.

A pop up to the catcher and consecutive strikeouts ended the Panthers’ side of the eighth and gave the Bears a shot at the win.

With Kelsie Elrod aboard to start the inning, a double by Abby Tindol gave the Bears two on with no outs.

A fly ball to center field by Motley allowed Elrod to tag and she beat the throw to the plate to give Billingsley the game winning run.

Abby Tindol led the Bears at the plate with a 2-for-4 performance with a single and a double.

Headley threw six innings for Billingsley with one earned run, two walks, three hits, while striking out six batters.

Paschal led Jemison with a 1-for-3 performance at the plate that included a double and an RBI.

Bolton threw 7 1/3 innings for the Panthers and tallied eight strikeouts while allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks.