A three-run walk-off home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh sent the Salem High girls’ home with a disappointing defeat Tuesday. The blow came in a 6-5 loss to Christiansburg.

Salem led 5-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh, fueled by a long two-run home run by Morgan Tennant. The Demons had a runner on third with two outs and the potential tying run at the plate, but coach Johnny Counts elected to walk Christiansburg’s number four hitter to pitch to the number five girl in the order. That backfired when she bombed one over the fence off Salem ace Reagan Owens to end the game.

“The girl that hit the home run hadn’t done anything all night,” said Counts. “She struck out three times in the game before she hit the home run, and their cleanup hitter hurt every time we’ve played them. We played the percentages and it just didn’t work out.”

Tennant and Maggie King had two hits each in the game for Salem and Owens struck out nine in the tough-luck defeat.

The loss dropped Salem to 4-11 and ended Salem’s two-game winning streak. Last week Salem scored an equally dramatic win when the Spartans scored nine runs in the top of the seventh inning to stun Patrick Henry, 9-2. Owens threw a complete game to get the win and Salem’s offense had 18 hits.

Scoreless through six innings, Salem started off the top of the seventh with a Hailey Smith solo homer on the first pitch of the inning. Taylor Bolen earned a walked and Kendra Bolen followed with a double to right center. Owens got on by an error and Taylor Bolen scored. Maddie Parrish followed with a single up the middle scoring both Kendra and Reagan, the second game in a row where Parrish had the game winning RBI.

Salem continued to hit with consecutive singles by Tennant, Rebeka Cox, Kaley Seldomridge and Smith as the Spartans batted around.

The Spartans are off next week for spring break, returning April 30 with a game at Blacksburg.