HS Sports Update: Huskies fall in semifinals; softball starts regional tournament
BASEBALL
The Hewitt-Trussville baseball team concluded its strong season over the weekend, as the Huskies were swept by Bob Jones in the Class 7A semifinals in a pair of extra-inning games.
Game 1: Bob Jones 5, Hewitt-Trussville 3 (8 innings)
Bob Jones beat Hewitt-Trussville and the rain on Friday evening, winning the first game of the series 5-3 in eight innings. The Patriots scored two runs in the first inning and another in the fourth. That lead held up until the seventh inning, when Hewitt-Trussville rallied to tie the game.
Hewitt drew two hit-by-pitches and three straight walks to earn the first two runs and Tyler Mauldin’s fielder’s choice tied the game at 3-3. Bob Jones got a triple and a sacrifice fly to put two runs on the board in the eighth and the Patriots would hang on to that lead.
Rain arrived immediately following the conclusion of the game and the second game was delayed until Saturday morning.
Game 2: Bob Jones 5, Hewitt-Trussville 4 (13 innings)
The second game provided even more dramatics, as Bob Jones outlasted Hewitt-Trussville 5-4 in 13 innings to sweep the series and advance to the 7A championship series.
Bob Jones again jumped out to a 3-0 lead, before Hewitt again made things interesting in the late innings. Zach Defnall’s run-scoring single got the Huskies on the board in the sixth inning. In the seventh, Mauldin drove in a run with a hit and the tying run came across on Jacob Bishop’s fielder’s choice.
In the top of the ninth, Hewitt-Trussville took its first lead of the series on another fielder’s choice, this one by Hudson Boren. But Bob Jones’ Slate Alford led off the bottom of the inning with a solo homer to tie the game at 4-4.
That score held until the bottom of the 13th inning, when a bases loaded walk forced in the winning run and sent Bob Jones to the final.
SOFTBALL
Hewitt-Trussville
The Hewitt-Trussville softball team got just one game of the Class 7A West Central Regional tournament in last week before rain altered the remainder of the tournament at Bowers Park in Tuscaloosa. The Huskies fell to Thompson on Thursday morning, and play will resume on Monday at the University of Montevallo, as the Huskies take on Oak Mountain at 2 p.m. in an elimination game.
Thompson 7, Hewitt-Trussville 5
The Hewitt-Trussville bats woke up a little too late on Thursday morning, as the Huskies fell to Thompson 7-5 in the regional tournament opener.
Thompson took a 7-1 lead in the fifth inning before Hewitt’s bats came to life. Crystal Maze homered in the sixth inning to notch her second run batted in of the day. Later in the frame, Riley Tyree’s sacrifice fly made it 7-3. The Huskies scored twice more in the seventh on Kenleigh Cahalan’s two-run double, but they could do no more.
Pinson Valley
Rain pushed back Pinson Valley’s regional tournament to Friday, and the Indians dropped two of three games that day in the Class 6A West Central Regional at Bowers Park in Tuscaloosa, ending their season.
Pinson Valley 6, Hueytown 2
Pinson Valley’s run in the regional tournament began on a high note, as the Indians knocked off Hueytown 6-2 on Friday morning. Hueytown notched both of its runs in the first inning, but Pinson Valley scored four times in the fifth inning to take the lead for good.
Shauna Clevenger led the Pinson offense, as she went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. Jordan Walker notched a pair of hits and RBIs as well. Walker went the distance in the circle, allowing three hits and the two early runs in seven innings, while striking out nine.
Homewood 5, Pinson Valley 3
Pinson Valley didn’t have the same luck in the following contest, as the Indians fell to Homewood 5-3. Clevenger had two more hits, including an RBI double in the seventh inning. Mollie Peoples followed Clevenger’s hit with a walk to put the tying run on base, but the Indians were unable to capitalize.
McAdory 4, Pinson Valley 3
Pinson Valley’s season came to a tough end Friday afternoon, as McAdory walked off with a win with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
The two teams exchanged a pair of runs in the second inning, as Anna Sullivan hit a two-run homer for the Indians and McAdory strung together four hits. Ka’Mya Hampton’s RBI triple in the sixth inning gave Pinson Valley the 3-2 lead, but McAdory tied the game in the sixth on an error and won it in the seventh on a single.
Pinson Valley finished the season with a 21-30 record and graduates seniors Clevenger, Graci Graves, Savannah Mayes, Mollie Peoples and Hope Cole.