ETNA – The Etna Marble Mountain JV Classic softball tournament was short on teams after several cancellations, but not on excitement. After dropping their opening two games to the Trinity JVs (11-8) and the Big Valley varsity (17-2), the Lady Lion JVs beat the Trinity Wolves, 9-8, in the rematch to advance to the championship game.

Etna nearly blew an early 8-0 lead, but Allyson Fleener came through with a two-out, RBI single to drive in Teal Rimmer for the game-winner. Trinity had fought back to tie the game, 8-8, in the top of the sixth inning.

Etna jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning. Jennifer Hanes led off with a walk, stole second base, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a wild pitch. With one out, Teal Rimmer reached on a walk, and then stole second and third base. Rimmer scored to give Etna a 2-0 lead, when Melissa Berry reached on an error.The Lady Lions upped their lead to 5-0 in the second inning. Keely Pindell took a lead off walk. She promptly stole second base, and then advanced to third on a Brittany Dean sacrifice. Heather Menne singled to plate Pindell. Menne scored all the way from first base, when Hanes reached on an error. Hanes advanced to third base on the error and throw home. Rachel Lions laid down a sacrifice bunt, scoring Hanes from third to finish the second inning scoring.

Berry led off the third inning for Etna with a single. After stealing second, Berry moved to third base, when Rhyan Smith reached on an error. Smith stole second base, and advanced to third base on a single by Pindell, which also drove in Berry. Smith scored on a wild pitch and Pindell went from first to third base on the play. Pindell also scored on a wild pitch, making it an 8-0 advantage for the Lady Lions.

Trinity got rolling in the top of the fourth inning with help from Etna. The Wolves converted a hit, a walk, an error, and multiple passed balls and wild pitches into three runs, to narrow the gap to 8-3.

The Lady Wolves added four more runs in the fifth inning. Again, Etna helped out with two errors, a couple of wild pitches, a hit batter and a walk. Trinity had one hit in the inning. With the time limit looming, Trinity scored another run in the sixth inning to tie the contest, 8-8.

The first two Etna batters in the bottom of the sixth inning were unable to reach base. But, Teal Rimmer worked a walk. In short order, Rimmer was standing on third base via a pair of steals. Allyson Fleener then ripped a base hit to score Rimmer, and give the Lady Lions a 9-8 victory.

Allyson Fleener went 2/4 from the plate, with an RBI. Keely Pindell was 1/2 with two runs, an RBI, a walk, and two steals. Jennifer Hanes went 1/2, with a run, a walk, a double, and a sacrifice. Teal Rimmer swiped five bases, took a pair of walks, was hit by a pitch, and scored two runs. Heather Menne scored a run and drove in a run, while going 1/3. Melissa Berry went 1/3, scored a run, and stole a base. Rachel Lyons started in the circle and picked up the win, going six innings.

The Etna JV squad dropped the championship game 14-4 to the Big Valley varsity.

Jennifer Hanes, Melissa Berry and Rachel Lyons were chosen for All-Tournament honors.