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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

CHELSEA – On a special senior night for the Chelsea Hornets, their veteran players led the way at the plate as they beat the Vincent Yellow Jackets 15-3 on Thursday, April 4 at Chelsea High School to sweep the season series with their county foe.

However, it was Vincent which got the first word as a pair of two-out singles by Jaci Wallace and McKenzie Fields turned into two runs off an error during Harley King’s at-bat. Another error during Isabella Quinn’s turn at the plate extended the lead to 3-0.

Chelsea recovered from those miscues in the bottom of the inning to take the lead and never look back.

After an error and a Samantha Sutton single put a pair of runners on, an RBI ground out by Sydney Carroll scored the first Hornets run of the game.

Kaitlin Hopson drew a walk on the ensuing at-bat, and an error during Caroline Brown’s at-bat led to the second run of the inning. Allie Scott then tied up the game at 3-3 off a ground out.

Chelsea then grabbed the 4-3 lead off a passed ball that allowed Brown to score.

While that was the last run of the first inning, the Hornets got right back to work in the bottom of the third. After Sutton reached base on a walk, Carroll launched a two-run home run to left to extend the lead to 6-3.

The bases loaded up on the next three batters thanks to a walk, error and a Scott single, and Madeline Epperson hit an RBI single to put Chelsea up 8-3.

After a ground out on the next at-bat, Makenna Harper scored two more runs off a single and made the lead 10-3.

The Hornets kept the inning going with a Baylor McCluney double followed by a walk to load the bases. Carroll then plated a pair of runs with an RBI double and Sutton stole home during Hopson’s at-bat as Chelsea finished off the nine-run second inning.

Now leading 13-3, the Hornets had another big two-out spot in the bottom of the third. Epperson hit a double and Purkey had a single to put runners on the corners. Then, Epperson came home off a Harper RBI double and McCluney RBI single to score the final runs of the game.

Alaysha Crews then finished off the 15-3 win with her final two innings of relief in the circle. She ended the game with four strikeouts across three perfect innings.

Purkey took the win after not allowing an earned run in two innings and working around three unearned runs and three hits.

Carroll finished the game 3-for-4 with five RBI and a run. Harper went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run, McCluney went 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI and Epperson finished 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI.

Chelsea will face another county opponent at home in Helena on Monday, April 8 at 5 p.m. Vincent will have a quick turnaround to face Billingsley on the road on Friday, April 5 at 5 p.m.