By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

Isabella won the Maplesville Spring Softball Tournament with a 9-8 victory Saturday over Dallas County in the championship game.

Isabella defeated host Maplesville, 11-1, in the first game of the tournament, which began on Friday.

IHS then took an 11-4 decision over Dallas County on Friday, but the Hornets fought back through the loser’s bracket and got another shot at Isabella–and won 6-5 on Saturday to force a third game between the two teams.

After the loss to Isabella, Maplesville was knocked out of the tournament by a 10-3 loss to Central Coosa on Saturday.

In the tournament’s first game, Maplesville’s couldn’t get its bats going against Isabella pitcher Chelsea Cox.

With the Mustang defense retiring the Red Devils in order to start the game, the Isabella offense scored two in the bottom half of the inning. With two aboard, a Melony Smith single to right field scored both Mustang baserunners to give Isabella an early 2-0 lead.

Another three-up, three-down inning for the Red Devils led to two more runs for the Mustangs in the bottom of the second to extend their lead to four after two innings of play.

The Red Devils managed to move a runner into scoring position in the top of the third inning, but consecutive strikeouts by Cox brought the inning to an end.

With Kacie Adams and and Smith aboard, a Briana Tyler triple to left field added two more for the Mustangs.

Tyler scored on a Haley Underwood single to right, while Jayda Jones scored on a passed ball.

After three innings of play, the Mustangs held an 8-0 lead.

The Mustangs added two more in the bottom half of the fourth inning to force the Red Devils to score in the top of the fifth or face the game ending via the 10-run mercy rule.

A Lacee Wallace single to left field set up a run-scoring single by Megan Weaver to give the Devils a much needed run.

However, with Adams on with a single to left, a Smith hit to the right side allowed Smith to cross the plate and gave the Mustangs the win by way of the mercy rule.

Alexus Goggins pitched a complete game for the Red Devils, allowing 13 hits, one walk and eight earned runs while striking out three.

Cox threw a complete game for the Mustangs, recording seven strikeouts while allowing one earned run on four hits.

Adams led Isabella at the plate, going 4-for-4 with three singles and a double.