The Montgomery County softball team had to win its own Fall Classic championship the hard way on Saturday.

The Wildcats won their second straight MCHS tournament title after defeating the Russellville Indians 4-2 in the championship game at Kiwanis Fields. They had to hold off a bases-loaded rally by Russellville in the top of the seventh to win the title.

MCHS finished with a 3-0 mark in the tournament. The Wildcats will be back in action on Thursday with a road game against Silex to start their Eastern Missouri Conference season.

Saturday’s championship was a good way for the Wildcats to begin their quest of going to the Class 2 Final Four for the second year in a row. Last year, MCHS won a school-record 28 games and finished fourth in the state tournament in its first appearance.

Also a year ago, the Wildcats began their season by cruising to a Fall Classic championship. They finished with a 3-0 record – including a win over Louisiana in the title game – and outscored their opponents 35-3.

This year, MCHS outscored its opponents 23-3. It started off tournament play with a 15-0 win over St. Clair in three innings, then knocked off Community R-6 4-1 to advance to the championship game against Russellville, which won 17 games last year.

The Wildcats got solid performances from their senior class of Reese Hill, Sam Turner and Jillian Weekley, sophomores Addison Cannon and Abigail Knoepflein and freshman Chloe Conder at the tournament.

Hill, a three-time all-state performer, picked up the complete-game win in the circle against Russellville. She struck out 14 and gave up five hits. At the plate, she drew seven walks and had two hits in the tournament.

The Indians had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the seventh before Hill struck out Karsyn Duncan and fielded a groundout by Cori Stewart to end the game.

Turner broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded against Russellville. She had four hits in the tournament.

Weekley had four hits with four RBIs against St. Clair, including a two-run single in the bottom of the third that ended the game and gave the Wildcats the run-rule victory. She also picked up the win in the circle against Community as she gave up just one hit and struck out two in four innings of work.

Cannon had five hits in the tournament, two each against Community and Russellville. Against Community, she broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run single in the bottom of the third.

Knoepflein had a pair of doubles against Russellville and scored on a two-run single by Turner in the bottom of the sixth.

Conder turned in a strong effort against St. Clair, getting two hits, including a grand slam in the second, and striking out eight and giving up just one hit in the circle.

The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead over the Indians in the finals on a bases-loaded walk by Cannon in the first and an RBI double by Knoepflein in the third. Russellville stormed back to tie it with two runs in the top of the sixth.

Knoepflein led off the bottom of the sixth with a double. With two outs, the Wildcats loaded the bases after Hill drew a walk and Weekley got an infield single. Then, Turner broke the tie with a single to center.

It was the first time the Wildcats played Russellville since 2021, when the Indians beat MCHS in the New Haven tournament finals.

MCHS was the top seed in the six-team tournament. Russellville was seeded third.