VIDEO: Tunstall softball gives head coach Rudder first Piedmont District Tournament title with a win over Halifax County

Tunstall’s Kinslee Cassell got a water bath following the Trojans’ tilt against Halifax County Thursday night. And for good reason…

The Tunstall softball team poses for a picture with the Piedmont District regular season and tournament championship trophy following the Trojans’ win over Halifax County Thursday evening. PHOTO: Davin Wilson/River City Sports.

DRY FORK — Tunstall’s Kinslee Cassell got a water bath following the Trojans’ tilt against Halifax County Thursday night.

And for good reason.

Cassell smacked the go-ahead single in the bottom of the fifth inning and closed things down in the circle in Tunstall’s 5–4 win over the Comets in the Piedmont District Tournament Championship game.

The championship was the Trojans’ first in six years and under head coach Jenna Rudder. Tunstall knocked off Franklin County, 4–3, in 2019 for its last district tournament championship.

[embed]Tunstall softball’s Colby Eastwood, Kinslee Cassell and Madison Austin caught up with River City Sports following the Trojans’ win over Halifax County in the Piedmont District Tournament Championship game Thursday evening. VIDEO: Davin Wilson/River City Sports.

Tunstall (18–3) entered the bottom of the fifth facing a 4–3 deficit. However, the Trojans struck for a pair of runs in the frame for a lead it never relinquished. Gianna Reamey kicked things off with a lead-off bunt single and Khamauri Mays followed two batters later with a walk to put the tying and go-ahead runs on base. Halle Cassada followed with a single to load the bases and Cassell followed with a single through the left side that plated Reamey and Mays for a 5–4 edge heading into the final two innings.

Halifax (14–7) didn’t go down quietly, putting the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the top of the seventh. Madison Jones started things off with a lead-off single and Hannah Ellixson worked a walk to put runners on first and second. Cassell bounced back with a pair of strikeouts to get the Comets down to their final out, but Kenley Staton kept things rolling with a single through the left side to load the bases. However, Cassell got a strikeout to lift the Trojans to the title.

The Comets broke a 1–1 tie in the top of the fourth with a three-run frame. Lexi Swillie and Avarie Bowen reached on one-out errors and Hannah Abbott loaded the bases with an infield single. Swillie came home on an error on Oliva Seamster’s ground ball to give Halifax the lead and Ellixson made it a 4–1 game with her single that plated Abbott and Seamster.

Tunstall didn’t need long to mount a comeback, scoring two runs in its half of the fourth to get within one. Cassada worked a lead-off walk and Colby Eastwood followed with a double to center that closed the Trojans’ gap to two. Three batters later, Kenley Barbour made it a 4–3 contest with her RBI sacrifice bunt.

Halifax delivered the first blow, taking a 1–0 lead on Staton’s RBI single in the top of the second.

Tunstall went to the long ball from there, knotting the score at 1–1 on Eastwood’s home run in the bottom of the second.

Cassell and Eastwood drove in two runs each to lead Tunstall while Barbour drove in a run.

Cassell got the win in the circle, giving up two hits and no runs while striking out five in 3.1 innings pitched.

Ellixson led Halifax with two RBI each while Seamster and Staton drove in a run each.