DEMOPOLIS — Dallas County won the two games it needed Thursday to advance to the regional round of the Alabama High School Athletic Association playoffs next week, but the Hornets couldn’t overcome one big obstacle — Demopolis.

The Hornets (16-6) had no issues defeating Wilcox Central 20-3 and 12-2 in first round and elimination contests, but had no answer for the Tigers. Demopolis steamrolled Dallas County 17-2 and 14-0 to win the class 5A, area 6 tournament. Both teams advanced to Troy next week for the next round of the playoffs.

“I’m happy we advanced but I’m not happy that we lost two games today,” said Dallas County coach Willie Moore. “We lost to a better team and a better program.”

The Hornets started the day knowing they would need to win two games to keep their season alive. Moore also knew that there was a chance his team could have to play four or five consecutive games, since the tournament included only three teams.

Dallas County ended up playing four straight and none of them were close.

“We started playing at nine and didn’t get through until five minutes after 3 p.m.,” Moore said. “Your practices don’t run that long and it sort of affected our depth today, and our girls were more tired because that was kind of new to them.”

The Hornets won the first game over Wilcox Central 20-3 after a 20-run first inning. After giving up three runs off walks in the top of the inning, Dallas County scored 12 runs before the Jaguars recorded the first out of the inning.

Dallas County’s Brittney Brown put the exclamation point on the explosive inning with an inside the park home run that made it 19-3 Hornets.

After a bunt by Morgan Krumnow brought in another run, she stopped off base early, which allowed Wilcox to get out of the inning.

No other runs were scored in the game as Hornets pitcher Lindsey McIlwain settled in and shut the Jaguars down.

Dallas County found a much stiffer challenge in game two against Demopolis, the top seed and host team for the tournament.

The Hornets actually took a 2-1 lead on a double by Keyondra Fletcher, but it didn’t last long. Demopolis stormed back with four in the second inning, led by Ole Miss commitment Abigail Latham’s two RBI single.

While the Hornets’ offense bogged down, the Tigers’ were just getting started. Demopolis exploded for 12 runs in the bottom of the third to reach the required lead to reach the mercy rule.

Seemingly every Tigers’ player got in on the fun. Kendall Hannah had a 2 RBI single and Jade Montgomery totaled 3 RBIs on a single and double in the inning.

Demopolis win assured the Tigers of advancing on to the next round of the playoffs and gave the team a spot in the area championship game.

The Hornets had to play a rematch with Wilcox Central in an elimination game.

Although Dallas County started slow, with only two runs each in the first and second inning, the Hornets again knocked off the Jaguars.

Brown, Taylor Moore, Tori Hatfield and Donna Gill scored runs in the third to push the lead to 9-2. The Hornets put it away in the bottom of the fourth with a single by McIlwain, and a double by Krumnow to put Dallas County up ten.

The win assured Dallas County of moving on in the postseason and gave the Hornets a chance to play for the area championship. To win the title, they had to defeat Demopolis twice.

However, the Tigers had their own plans in place. Demopolis didn’t even allow Dallas County to cross the plate in a 14-0 victory.

The Tigers scored five runs in the opening inning behind a RBI double by Latham and a RBI single by tournament MVP Jessica Adams, who also batted in two runs in the bottom of the second. The Tigers didn’t slow up on their way to a 14-0 area clinching victory.