By Brandon Sumrall|Special to the Advertiser
A hard fought area softball battle between the Stanhope Elmore Mustangs and the Chilton County Tigers on April 13, saw the Tigers come up just short in a 4-3 loss that resulted in the Tigers dropping behind the Mustangs in the area standings.

A two-out walk for the Mustangs in the top of the second did not hurt Chilton after an infield ground ball would get the Tigers out of the inning.

While shutting out the Mustangs in the top of the first, the Tigers struck first putting two runs on the board in the home half of the inning. With Morgan Dennis reaching safely on a fielder’s choice and Hope Watts on a walk, an RBI single by Marlie Giles and Emma Locke put the Tigers on the board with a 2-0 lead.

A leadoff walk and a single by the Mustangs presented an early scoring threat for Stanhope Elmore, but an infield ground ball, strikeout and fly ball to center brought the half inning to a close. The Tigers faired no better in the second, as Chilton County went three-up-and-three-down to send the game to the third.

The Mustangs got their bats going in the top of the third inning and after a fielder’s choice to Sherrell Matthews, an RBI double by Martha McDaniel cut the Chilton County lead to one.

With two outs on the inning and two aboard, a two-run double by Raven Hudson gave the Mustangs a one-run lead.

The Tigers put themselves in good position to put more runs on the board in the home half of the inning, but a two-out ground ball would result in the third out and would send the game to the fourth with Stanhope Elmore leading 3-2.

With a scoreless fourth inning in the books, the Mustangs added one more run in the top of the fifth, thanks to a bases loaded walk that scored Taylor Roland extended the Stanhope Elmore lead to two.

A scoreless sixth and top of the seventh set the Tigers up with their final three outs and a two-run deficit to erase.

A leadoff groundball knocked the Tigers down to two outs, but a one-out double by Hope Watts set up a two-out RBI single by Emmy Easterling that made it a one-run game.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, an offensive interference call at short resulted in a third out that brought the game to a close.

Emma Locke led the Tigers at the plate with a 3-for-4 performance with three singles and a RBI.

Brianna Connell handled the pitching for Chilton and threw a complete game with one earned run on five hits, along with seven walks and four strikeouts.