BY KATIE MCELVY
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
Lady Rebels Softball
The Chambers Academy Lady Rebels have advanced to the state softball tournament. In order to get into the tournament, the Lady Rebels had to win a best of three series against Lowndes Academy.
In the first game, a big fourth inning propelled the Lady Rebels to a win. With two outs and a 3-2 lead Amber Hinkle and Emmalee Jackson hit back-to-back doubles. Allie Paschal hit a two-run single, and the Lady Rebels walked away with a 10-2 win. Poppi Earl got the win on the mound.
Paschal started out with a hot bat in the second game too, hitting a two-run homer in the first.
Olivia Daughtrey hit a double in the third and was knocked in by Ansley Carter to give Chambers a 3-0 lead. Lowndes answered by loading up the bases and knocking in three runs. With runners on, Lowndes was caught stealing third to get the Rebels out of the inning.
Still hot, Paschal hit an RBI triple to give the lead back to Chambers in the fourth.
Lowndes tied it up at four all in the sixth. Ansley Carter and Hinkle both hit RBIs in the top of the seventh to give Chambers a 7-4 lead.
Lowndes scored one run in the bottom of the seventh. With one out and the tying run at first base, Samantha Lovelace struck out a batter and caught a pop fly to make the third out and end the game.
The Lady Rebels survived to take the 7-5 win and advance to the AISA AA State Tournament.
The Lady Rebels had to play in a seeding tournament later in the week. They lost to Hooper 4-8 in the first game but beat Macon-East 11-9 in the second game. The Lady Rebels will enter the tournament as a number three seed. Chambers will face Bessemer at noon on Thursday.
Rebels Baseball
The Chambers Academy Rebels faced off against Bessemer Academy in a best of three series. In the first game, Bessemer took a 3-0 lead in the first, but the Rebels answered back in the third. Drew
Sheppard hit a double to lead off the third and scored on an error by Bessemer. The Bessemer field started to struggle, committing errors, walking batters, and hitting batters.
Colton Fuller took advantage of Bessemer’s poor play and sent in two runs on a single. Chambers left the inning with a 4-3 lead.
The Rebels gave up one run in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game. Chambers took a one run lead in the fifth, and put the game away in the top of the seventh off hits by Landon Hand, Peyton
Yerta, Eli Whorton, Fuller, and Bryce Modeling. The Rebel defense held Bessemer scoreless in the seventh to walk away with an 11-4 win.
In the next game, Bessemer held Chambers scoreless to win 0-2 and force a game three. Chambers took a 2-0 lead in the fourth, but Bessemer tied it up in the fifth. Luke Tarver hit an RBI single in the top of the sixth to give Chambers a 3-2 lead. Bessemer tied up at three all in the bottom of the inning. Chambers couldn’t get any runs in the top of the seventh, and Bessemer was able to walk it off in the bottom of the seventh with a 3-4 win to end the season for the Rebels.