Hatton, Haleyville Return To Softball Throne Room
Sparkman Makes Undefeated Run En Route To Class 6A Championship
Hatton made it four in a row in Class 2A, Haleyville captured its second straight title in Class 4A and Sparkman rode an undefeated run to the Class 6A crown in the State Softball Tournment Friday at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.
Class 2A Finals: Hatton Rallies To 4th Straight Title
Hatton claimed its fourth straight Class 2A state softball championship, coming out of the losers’ bracket to defeat Mobile Christian 6-3 and 5-2.
The Hornets (46-10) were led by pitcher Hillary Carpenter, who won her fourth straight MVP award. She struck out seven and walked seven, giving up only five runs in the two games, and added four hits.
Mobile Christian (40-17) edged the Hornets 9-8 in the finals of the winners’ bracket earlier Friday, but Hatton bounced back with a win over Lexington to reach the finals.
After falling behind 2-0 in the first game of the finals, the Hornets grabbed the lead for good on a three-run home run by Carey Grace Peebles in the bottom of the first and did not trail the rest of the night. They added a single run in fourth and two in the fifth.
In game two, Mariah Cantrell singled home two runs in the top of third, Victoria Crumpton homered in the fifth and Danya Snead doubled in two more in the seventh for the Hornets.
In addition to Carpenter, Hatton placed Peebles, Snead and Cantrell on the all-tournament team along with Kennedy Ward, Gabriella Callaway and Chelsea Rawlin of Mobile Christian.
Class 4A Finals: Haleyville outlasts Alabama Christian
The Haleyville Lions rode the hitting and pitching of Holly Ward to their second straight Class 4A state softball championship, beating Alabama Christian 8-0. The victory came after the Lions were forced into a do-or-die matchup by the Eagles' 3-0, 11-inning win in the first game of finals.
Ward, the tournament’s MVP for the second year in a row, doubled in the top of the second and courtesy runner Anna Godsey scored on Tori Pendley’s single. In the fourth Ward’s two-run homer gave the Lions a 4-0 lead, then Haleyville (45-13) added two more in the fifth and single runs in the sixth and seventh.
Ward, who hurled all five games in the tournament, limitrf Alabama Christian to just three hits, walked one and fanned two. For the tournament she tossed three shutouts, scattered 21 hits and gave up five runs. She also struck out 30 and walked only two.
Alabama Christian (37-14-1) won the first game on Jordan Jones’ RBI single in the 11th after two Eagle batters reached on errors with one out. After a sacrifice bunt scored the second run, Jones scored on another Lion error.
The Eagles’ Caitlyn Perry, who went all 11 innings, blanked Haleyville with 11 strikeouts and no walks and gave up only seven hits.
Alli O’Rear and Callie Pendley of Haleyville joined Ward on the all-tournament team along with Schylar Edwards, Kodee Harrison, Maggie Mills and Perry of Alabama Christian and Anna Rae Montgomery of Central-Florence.
Class 6A Finals: Sparkman Rolls To Title
After surviving a 6-5 eight-inning win over Dothan in the tournament opener, the Sparkman Senators rolled through the rest of the field to take the Class 6A championshipy.
The Senators (52-8) defeated Pelham 9-1 in the finals to earn their second straight title and fourth overall. Sparkman also won titles in 2006, 2009 and 2012.
Pelham took a 1-0 lead in the first, but it did not last long as Sparkman scored two in the bottom of the first and went on to score one in the third, two in the fourth and four more in the sixth.
Tournament MVP Meg Willis singled in Janna Korak with the go-ahead run in the first and had six RBIs in the Senators’ four games. She was joined on the all-tournament team by teammates Bevia Robinson, Jordan Bullock and Korak. Pelham’s Emily Spain and Becky Fox made the all-tournament team along with Vestavia Hills’ Taylor Coe.
In the finals, Korak was 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, Robinson 1-for-2 with an RBI and two runs, and Bullock 1-for-4. Jessie Rice went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs.