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Morristown West spotted East an early one-run lead and then roared back with a five-run second and went on to an 11-1, six-inning triumph in the first game of the City Championship series Monday afternoon at J. C. Wild Park.

Kaylynn Milton rapped out four hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth to lead the way and Kara Dyke tossed a four-hitter on the mound.

It was the 15th victory against seven losses for the Lady Trojans and improved their District 1-4A slate to 2-2. East saw its defensive struggles continue in falling to 1-18 for the season and 0-7 in the district, with all seven losses coming by run-rule.

Sydney Mendez added three hits as West collected 13 on the day. Dyke and Eva Boudier added two safeties apiece.

Ava Combs, Paige Horner, Macy Davis and McKinlee Hamilton all had singles for East.

Dyke was a little wild at times as she walked five but she also struck out eight and was able to keep the Lady Hurricanes off the scoreboard after the first inning.

Jaycee Hamilton went the distance in taking the loss. East had six more errors in the loss, resulting in several unearned runs.

West coach Chad Parker said, “We had too many walks but we played good defense as we didn’t make any errors. Kara did a good job when they had runners on.

“I was a little worried when we didn’t score more after the second because when you let a team hang around like that in a rivalry game, you never know what’s going to happen. But we finally got the big home run by Kaylynn and then we were able to end it early with three more in the sixth.”

He added, “I thought we did a good job at the plate. We hit from the top to the bottom of the order and that really makes it tough for the other team. We didn’t strike out a lot and put the ball in play.

“Our defense was very good all day. We had three double plays that took them out of scoring chances and that was big.”

East’s Leslie Clemmons remarked, “We put ourselves in a tough position by making errors and giving up a big inning.

We you do that against a team like West, it’s hard to recover.”

She added, “But there were some positives. Ava gave us a good swing early and we showed patience at the plate. I was proud of the way freshmen Paige Horner at short and Tayla Brice at third competed and handled themselves.

“And senior Jaycee Hamilton continues to lead by example. She’ll step in and play anywhere we need her and gives us everything she has every time. Her sister McKinlee had one of our hits and continues to play well.”

Clemmons closed by saying, “We just need to be sharper defensively and more consistent.”

Horner led off the game with a hit and MaKenzie Maness walked. After a strike out, Jaycee Hamilton hit a hard shot to center field where Boudier made a great catch for the second out. However, Combs smacked a base hit to give the Lady Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.

West left two runners on in the bottom of the first before batting around and collecting five hits and five runs in the second. With one out, Alyssa Sizemore singled and Mackenzie Lucky walked before Mendez singled in the first run.

Boudier’s hit scored two more before Dyke had a hit and Milton doubled to make it 5-1.

The Lady ‘Canes threatened but couldn’t score, leaving two on in the fourth and making the final out trying to go to third on a fly ball in the fifth. That could have been very costly as leading hitter Jaycee Hamilton was coming to the plate.

The Lady Trojans put the game away in the bottom of the frame when Mendez had an infield hit and Dyke reached on an error before Milton’s three-run homer made it 8-1. The ball actually hit the top of the fence in left-center and bounced back into play but was ruled a home run.

East failed to score in the sixth and West put together three runs to end it by the mercy rule in the bottom of the inning.

Lynlee McDaniel started it with a double and scored as Sizemore reached on an error one out later. After Lucky had a hit, Mendez singled to plate a run and Boudier blasted a double that would have scored more runs if the first one had ended the game.

West had double plays on a grounder in the second, a fly ball to left in the fifth and a line drive back to Dyke in the sixth.