BWS Sports

EBARB — The No. 11 Hornbeck Lady Hornets finally found their bats in the third inning.

And when they did, there was nothing No. 6 Ebarb could do about it.

Hannah Mitchell hit a game-tying home run in the third inning and Abby Nicholas crushed a 2-run homer in the fourth to help lift the Lady Hornets to a 12-6 win over the Lady Rebels in the Class C regional playoffs on Tuesday.

With the victory, Hornbeck will now play host to the Downsville Lady Demons at 5 p.m. Saturday, a game which can be heard live on 93.5 KJAE-FM with Will Norris and Daniel Green on the call.

“I’m one proud coach,” Hornbeck boss Tonya Rhodes said. “We had a rough start, but we finally got our bats going in the third and after that all the girls pitched in and played great defense.”

The Lady Hornets found themselves in an early hole as Ebarb scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning. After Hornbeck responded with two in the second, the Lady Rebels got another run in the bottom of the frame to take a 5-2 lead.

But in the third inning, Hannah Mitchell connected on a 3-run bomb to tie the game at 5-5. However, the Lady Hornets weren’t done as they added two more in the frame to open up a 7-5 lead.

Starting pitcher Abby Nicholas aided her own cause as she crushed a 2-run homer in the top of the fourth to extend the Hornbeck edge to 9-5.

The Lady Hornets added three more runs in the fifth and held off Ebarb with solid defense the rest of the way, including a game-ending, homer-robbing snag by senior Hannah Dahlhoff.

Nicholas earned the win on the mound for the Lady Hornets.