Four days after falling to in-county rival Middlesboro on the road, the Bell County Bobcats fell to the visiting South Laurel Cardinals 12-1 in five innings at home on Monday.

“South Laurel came to play,” said Bell County coach Scott Chaney. “They hit the ball exceptionally well and pitched well all afternoon. I thought we did a good job on defense, we were just unable to throw strikes for most of the day. We didn’t hit the ball too well, hopefully we get that cleaned up soon.”

Things got off to a rough start for the Bobcats in the top of the first as Dalton Garland drove in a run for the Cardinals to take an early 1-0 lead. South Laurel added another run in the inning when Landen Roark stole home as a pitch got away from Bell County freshman catcher, Cole Hoskins.

After retiring the side, the Bobcats found their way on to the scoreboard after an Alex Mayes RBI cut the lead to 2-1 in favor of the Cardinals.

Bell County was held scoreless for the remainder of the game, while South Laurel added 10 more runs to enforce the run-rule after five innings.

Antonio Zachary and Jacob Smith led Bell County in hits, with one each. Mayes added one RBI for the Bobcats’ lone run of the game.

With the loss, Bell County moved to 6-10 on the season with one district game remaining against Middlesboro, a meeting that was rescheduled for May 9 due to inclement weather.

With the victory, South Laurel improved to 10-14 on the year. The Cardinals squared off against Somerset on Tuesday.

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Bell County (6-10) 100 00. 2. 3.

South Laurel (10-14) 241 23. 1. 8.