BROCK – The Texas Girls Coaches Association Class 3A No. 9 Early Lady Horns suffered their first District 8-3A softball defeat and slipped into a tie for first place with Brock as the Lady Eagles notched a 6-4 victory Thursday.

Early (22-4-2, 9-1) – which defeated Brock (15-10-1, 9-1) by a 4-2 count in nine innings on March 14 – scored twice in the first inning, but the Lady Eagles answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half. Brock surged in front 3-2 in the bottom of the second and opened a 6-2 advantage in the fourth. The Lady Horns scored twice more in the top of the seventh inning, but the rallied ended there.

The Lady Horns finished with seven hits, including two home runs by Marissa Reedy who drove in three runs. Grace LaRue added two hits, including a double, and knocked in one. Stoney Laughlin, Teagan Lopez and Brooklyn McCullough contributed singles.

In the circle, Lopez gave up five earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts, while LaRue worked three scoreless innings with three hits surrendered. Defensively, Early committed four errors.

The Lady Horns are back in action at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Peaster.