Parrish Rebounds To Capture Softball Title
Pisgah, Hayden Go Undefeated En Route State Championships
Parrish battled back from the loser's bracket to grab the Class 1A title, Pisgah rolled in Class 3A to its eighth championship and Hayden grabbed its first Class 5A crown on the final day of the State Softball Tournament Saturday at Montgomery's Lagoon Park.
Class 1A Finals: Parrish Battles Back
Parrish (40-10) rebounded from a 7-3 championship round loss to Kinston (36-16) by winning the deciding game 5-0 to capture the Class 1A championship.
Winning pitcher Grayson Culverson scattered five hits and struck out five to get the final game win. The Tornadoes gave her all the runs she would need in the first inning when Savannah Jones and Makenzie Morgan scored as the result of errors.
Culverson, who earned series MVP honors, added an RBI double in a three-run fifth. Meleah Smith also had a double in that rally that sealed the win.
Morgan was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for Coach Chris Harris’ Tornadoes.
Alysaa Caver started for Kinston in the final game but lasted only one inning. Lexi Harrison hurled the final six innings, allowing five hits, three runs while striking out four. Anna Elmore, Emily Mock, Harrison, Breeann Biddle and Calie Weeks all had singles for the Bulldogs.
Parrish rolled through the winner’s bracket with wins over Fayetteville (10-0), Decatur Heritage (4-0) and Kinston (4-3). Kinston beat Athens Bible (4-0), defending champion Ragland (2-0), lost in the winner’s bracket finals to Parrish (4-3), then beat Pleasant Home 5-4 to set up the final two games with the Tornadoes.
Named to the 1A All-Tourney Team were: Grayson Culverson, Parrish (MVP), MaKenzie Morgan, and Baleigh Robertson of Parrish; Madison Weeks, Anna Elmore and Lexi Harrison of Kinston; and Peyton Barthel of Decatur Heritage.
Class 3A Finals: Pisgah Rolls
Tournament MVP Megan Smith threw three shutouts while allowing only one run in 28 innings as the Class 3A Pisgah Eagles rolled to their eighth state crown.
The Eagles (46-7-2) defeated Winfield 9-0 in the finals for their 29th consecutive win this season.
Pisgah won five straight Class 2A titles from 2001-2005 then captured 3A crowns in 2008 and 2001. They were runners-up to Saks last year.
Smith gave up 17 hits in four games, walked five and fanned 37. It was her third straight year to earn all-tournament honors. She was joined on the all-tourney team by teammates Lillie McCrary and Paxton Nance. McCrary, an all-tournament selection last year, had seven hits in the tournament including a 3-for-3 performance in the finals.
Winfield (40-10) placed four on the team–Samantha Riley, Emma Atkinson, Micaela Black and Madison Moore.
Class 5A Finals: Hayden Clips Scottsboro
Brooke Meadows’ homered leading off the first inning and Caitlyn Kirkland tossed a two-hitter to lift Hayden (45-6-1) to a 1-0 victory over Scottsboro and their first Class 5A state softball championship.
Kirkland, named the tournament’s MVP, had earlier shutout Scottsboro 2-0 in the winners’ bracket final. In the two contests, she limited Scottsboro to 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out four.
Meadows was also named to the all-tournament team after going 7-for-13 in Hayden’s four tournament games. She went 4-for-4 against Shelby County in their tournament opener, scored three runs and drove in four, including a three-run home run.
Hayden’s Meleah Hargett, Briarwood Christian’s Morgan Reed, and Payton Metz, Ashley Smart and Emily Glover of Scottsboro (49-14) also made the all-tournament team.
Hargett was 5-for-14 for Hayden. Metz had three of Scottsboro’s seven hits in the final two games.