With the end of the school year drawing to a close, one high school team in the area still has its eyes set on ultimate glory.

The second ranked Dallas County Lady Hornets have been tearing through the season, finishing with a 26-5 record and the one-seed in their area tournament.

The Lady Hornets took on Bibb County and on two intensely competitive games Thursday to win their area tournament in order to advance to regional play in Troy next Friday.

In the first game of the day, which would ensure a regional berth, Avery Mott led off and reached on an error.  Whitney Denson sacrificed her to second where Mott then scored on a Cassie Daniels single.

The 1-0 lead held up until the bottom of the sixth when Denson and Kendall Veach both singled.  Ilicia Stewart followed with a 3-run line drive homerun for a commanding 4-0 lead.

Daniels threw a 2 hit shutout while recording 11 strikeouts.

In game two, Dallas County was put to the test in a 10 inning defensive battle.  Whitney Denson led off the bottom of the first with a triple to right field and scored on a Veach sacrifice fly.

That lead would hold up until the top of the seventh when Lawley of Bibb singled to tie the game.

The game would remain tied until the bottom of the 10th when Daniels led off with a double.  Pinch runner Casey Baggett then scored on a Stewart double for the go-ahead run.

“Defensively, that was probably our best game of the year,” Lady Hornet’s head coach Ed Miller said.

“We hit the ball really well all tournament as well, but in that second game both teams made some outstanding plays.”

Miller said his team had a lot of production from across his lineup.

“Everyone made some fantastic plays for us this tournament,” he said. “We we have our normal nine out there, we see this type of production.”

The area win gives Dallas County the right to move on to Troy to play for the South-Central 4A regional title.

“I feel like we are playing really well right now,” Miller said. “We just have to continue to play good defense and keep hitting the ball like we have been and I feel like we should have a good chance to win it.”