The Lyon County Lady Lyons scored twice in the top of the seventh inning and then held on in the bottom half of the inning to escape with a 5-4 win over Livingston Central in the 5th District softball semifinals on Monday.
The win by the three-seed Lady Lyons capped a night that saw four-seed Crittenden County knock off top-seed Trigg County in the opener. Lyon County and Crittenden County will play for the championship Tuesday night at Ralph Thomas Field.
Livingston Central broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning after Chloe Doyle walked and later scored on an Amelia Ray RBI double to center field.
Lyon County answered in the seventh.
Courtney Collins was hit by a pitch to begin the inning and stole second. Ava Prow was intentionally walked, and with two outs, Brooklyn Tackett hit a wind-blown double to shallow left field that scored Collins to tie the game.
Olivia Moore was intentionally walked to load the bases, and Maddie Perry worked a nine-pitch walk to score Prow with the go-ahead run.
Livingston appeared set to tie the game in the home half of the seventh inning when Neveah Jennings led off with a triple to the right field corner.
However, Prow got a pop-out and a strikeout. Irelynn Burns, who homered earlier, was issued a free pass to first. A lineout to second base ended the threat and sent Lyon County to its first district championship game in three years.
The game was the third heart-stopper of the season between the schools. Livingston Central rallied from six runs down to beat Lyon 10-8 in nine innings on May 4. A week later, Lyon bounced back with a 14-11 win in Smithland that set the tournament seeding and ensured a third meeting in the district semifinals.
Lyon County struck first in the top of the opening inning when Jenna Coursey singled home Courtney Collins for a 1-0 lead. Collins had reached on a walk, stole second, and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
The Lady Lyons added another run in the third inning when Audrey Akridge reached on an error and moved to third before scoring on a Coursey squeeze bunt that pushed Lyon County’s advantage to 2-0.
Livingston Central answered in the bottom of the third inning with the long ball.
Addison Tramble blasted a solo homer to center field, her eighth of the season, to cut the deficit to 2-1. Hadley Hargrove followed with a single to left field but left the game with a leg injury. Irelynn Burns smacked a two-run homer, her seventh of the season, to put Livingston in front for the first time.
Lyon County tied the game in the fifth inning when Ava Prow lined an RBI single to right field, scoring Coursey to make it 3-3.
Brooklyn Tackett led Lyon County’s offense with two doubles and an RBI. Coursey added a hit and two RBIs, while Prow contributed an RBI single.
Prow struck out five and allowed seven hits in getting the win in the circle.
For Livingston Central (24-8), Burns had two hits and two RBI, reaching base four times with a pair of walks.
Tramble struck out 13 and allowed just four hits, but threw 145 pitches as Lyon County continually worked deep counts, thanks to 27 foul balls. 14 of the fouls came with two strikes.
Lyon County (23-14) and Crittenden County (21-10) are scheduled to play in the championship on Tuesday at 6:00. Both teams also advance to next week’s region tournament in Eddyville.
