The Live Oak Lions got by the visiting Willows Honkers softball squad by a count of 9-8 in Friday's league battle.

The Lions (6-6) will now prepare for their battle against Hamilton (Hamilton City, CA). The Braves go into the Sacramento Valley battle with a 5-9 record. In their last battle, Hamilton was edged by Live Oak (Live Oak, CA), 4-3, in a league battle.

The Honkers now sport a 17-9 record. They play next when they host East Nicolaus for a non-league battle on Tuesday, April 16. Willows will meet a Spartans squad coming off a 10-0 league win over Esparto (Esparto, CA). The Spartans record now stands at 15-4.

The Honkers had runners on every inning but the first, but didn't get the timely hits until the 7th when it was just a little too late. The Honkers out hit Live Oak, 15-5, but committed 7 costly errors that proved too much to overcome. The Honkers rallied fo 7 runs in the top of the 7th and had the tying run on third, but a line shot to the shortstop ended their hopes of a comeback win. Kassidy Millen was 4 for 4 with a double and 5 RBI's, Morgan Hughes was 4 for 4 with a double, Rylee Smith was 2 for 4 with a double, Natalie Massa was 2 for 4 with an RBI, and Macy Baker was 2 for 4 and Ally Brunner singled. Samantha Brott went 6 1/3 inning, striking out 2 and only allowing 3 earned runs. Rylee Smith finished off the bottom of the sixth, striking out two and giving up 1 hit.