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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

WEST BLOCTON – The Pelham Panthers took their 10th win of the season in a down-to-the-wire matchup with the West Blocton Tigers.

Pelham came out on top 5-4 as the teams squared off on Tuesday, March 12 at West Blocton High School.

The Panthers opened up the game in front thanks to an error with two runners on and one out in the first inning to take the 1-0 lead.

In the bottom half of the frame, a similar situation with two on and one out led to a West Blocton run, this time on a groundout to tie up the game at 1-1.

The teams remained tied until the bottom of the fourth when a single and a pair of wild pitches put the Tigers leadoff runner on third. A groundout then allowed the runner to come home and give West Blocton a 2-1 lead.

The Tigers then got Pelham into a two-out hole in the top of the fifth, but they capitalized on opportunities to reclaim the lead.

An error put a runner on first for Jordan Howard who hit an RBI triple to bring her home and tie the game at two runs apiece. On the next pitch, an error resulted in another run scoring, this one giving the Panthers the 3-2 lead.

Pelham extended that lead to two in the following inning as a bunt attempt by Rebecca Roy led to Taylor Howard scoring from second base.

However, West Blocton started the home half of the inning with a pair of singles. Then, the runner at third stole home during a double steal to cut the deficit to one.

On the next batter, a fielder’s choice bunt tied up the game at 4-4 going into the final inning.

While Laini Stewart reached on an error to lead off the seventh, back-to-back outs nearly sent the Panthers back to the dugout.

McKenzie Little then came up clutch with a 1-1 single to bring Stewart home from second and score the go-ahead run.

Afterwards, Pelham had a one-two-three bottom of the seventh to dispatch the Tigers and secure the 5-4 win.

Little pitched a complete game for the Panthers to earn the win, taking four strikeouts against four hits, two earned runs out of four total runs and no walks.

Pelham will return home to face Mountain Brook in its next game on Thursday, March 14 at 5 p.m.