For three innings it looked as if the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers and the Paducah Tilghman Lady Blue Tornado were going to play it right down to the wire. However, Tilghman scored 11 runs in their final two at-bats to rip open a close game and take a 13-2 five-inning win over the Lady Tigers. The loss ended Hoptown’s two-game winning streak.
Tilghman took the early lead in the game by using a pair of first-inning singles to score a run and take a 1-0 lead after the top of the first.
Hoptown came right back in the bottom of the inning. Kaitlyn Kaetzel led off the bottom of the first with a single and then later scored on a steal of home to even things up at 1-1 after one inning of play.
Tilghman took the lead back in the top of the third. A lead-off walk turned into a run on a sac fly as the Lady Blue Tornado went back in front 2-1.
Once again, Hoptown came right back. Kaitlyn Kaetzel led off the bottom of the third with a single. One out later, Kaetzel would score on a double off the bat of Morgan Hodge to tie the game at 2-2.
Then, the bottom fell out for the Lady Tigers. Tilghman combined four base hits and two errors into a five-run inning in the top of the 4th to move the lead out to 7-2.
Tilghman then put the game to bed in the top of the fifth inning, with a bit of help from the Lady Tigers. Hopkinsville gave up four walks, two hit batters, and two errors in the top of the fourth as Tilghman plated six runs to go up 13-2. The Lady Tigers were charged with five errors in the game.
The Lady Tigers then went down in order in the bottom of the fifth to end the game on the 10-run rule.
Kaitlyn Kaetzel finished the game 2-3. Morgan Hodge ended up 1-2 with a double and an RBI.
The loss drops Hopkinsville to 2-5 on the season. They return to action Tuesday when they hit the road to take on McLean County.
