FELTON — Caesar Rodney High scratched out runs any way it could for a come-from-behind victory on the road.

The Riders scored a run in each of the final three innings to edge Lake Forest 3-2 in a Henlopen Conference softball contest on Tuesday afternoon.

Alexis Howerin singled home the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth inning while Stephanie Horne added a key insurance run in the top of the seventh. With the victory, Caesar Rodney improved to 8-3 in conference play and 11-4 overall.

“Honestly this is a huge win for our team and building our confidence,” Howerin said. “I’ll give it to our team, we fought hard through that game and we came out on top. We executed in the spots that we needed to and made it all work.”

The Riders are halfway through which promises to be a busy week. They earned a 4-3 win against Middletown on Monday and still have two games remaining — at Laurel on Thursday and home against fellow Henlopen Conference Northern Division competitor Smyrna on Saturday.

This week will be pivotal for a good seed in the upcoming state tournament, slated to begin on Saturday, May 28.

“I definitely think we’re in the mix,” said CR first-year coach Skye Boris. “I think we’re a top team but we’re also a sleeper team. People kind of sleep on us so I’m excited to see where we’re going to be in the playoffs.”

Caesar Rodney took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh before Lake Forest (8-4 conference, 12-5 overall) mounted a comeback.

Mya Maddox doubled for the Spartans and scored on a RBI-single by Katie Stahre to make it a one-run game. Lake Forest soon had runners on first and second with two outs before Boris went to the mound for a team conference.

One pitch later, Alyssa Ball induced a comebacker for a groundout for the final out.

“I just told them to stay loose,” Boris said. “I told them to stay calm and make the routine plays. I knew Alyssa would get a groundball, she’s not really a strikeout pitcher, so I told them to just make the play.”

Caesar Rodney tied the game in the fifth when Rosa’lynn Burton led off with an infield single. She worked her way around the diamond thanks to stolen bases and bunts, eventually scoring on a squeeze by Mirabella Klebart.

Horne scored the go-ahead run in the sixth when she doubled before coming home on a two-out single by Howerin. Horne’s RBI single in the seventh also came with two outs.

“We did well with the small ball and we really did well with the baserunning,” Boris said.

Horne and Ball both finished 2-for-4 for the Riders.

“We had to stay up on everything and made sure we didn’t get down on ourselves,” Howerin said. “Once we picked it up, we made our good plays and made the plays that helped us get to this win.”