Third-ranked Chelsea walked off with a 1-0 win over No. 1 Hartselle in a wild finish to open the Class 6A baseball championship series on Wednesday at Oxford’s Choccolocco Park.

After the Hornets battled through 8 scoreless innings, Chelsea’s Aiden Craven was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Paxton Stallings followed with a single through the left side of the infield, bringing in reliever Asher Doepel to replace starter Jace Meadows. Luke Neill then walked on four pitches to load the bases before Bryant Wisdom flew out to right field, bringing up Jaxson Dohrman.

On a 1-0 pitch, Dohrman grounded to shortstop Easton Nelms, who threw home for the second out – but junior catcher Cole Griffin’s throw to first to complete a double play was high, allowing Stallings to come home with the winning run.

The teams will meet on Thursday at Jim Case Stadium at Jacksonville State University to decide the championship with a 10 a.m. Game 2 with, if necessary, Game 3 to follow.

The pitcher’s duel featured 23 strikeouts and 9 hits.

Chelsea’s Aiden Hughes threw the 9-inning shutout, allowing 2 hits while facing 32 batters. The senior left-hander struck out 12 Hartselle batters and walked 1 on 126 pitches.

The Hornets got 7 hits off two Hartselle pitchers, left 9 runners on base and did not commit an error.

Hartselle’s Meadows took the loss, allowing all of Chelsea’s hits with 11 strikeouts and a walk. He faced 33 batters, throwing 119 pitches. Doepel worked two-thirds of an inning with a walk.

Hughes, the leadoff hitter for Chelsea, was 2-for-4 at the plate. Chase Lackey, Craven, Mack Breazeale and Wisdom also had hits in the win.

Hartselle leadoff batter Doepel and No. 2 hitter Nelms got the Tigers’ hits in the loss.