Huskies rally in final inning to advance

HOOVER – Character.

That’s the word Hewitt-Trussville High School baseball coach Jeff Mauldin said best describes his team. The Huskies character was tested on Saturday, but they overcame a deficit in the final inning to beat Hoover, 7-3, in Game 3 of the first-round Class 7A playoff series to advance.

“To be down a game and come back to win the last two, to be down a run with three outs against no doubt one of the best teams in the state,” Mauldin said.

The Huskies entered the seventh inning trailing 3-2, with the bottom of their lineup due up to start the inning. Mauldin told his hitters to “get it back to the top” of the lineup.

“If you get it back to the top, that means you’re on base,” Mauldin said.

All three got on base. Preston Jones singled, Michael Fowler doubled, and Keith Lanum reached on an RBI fielder’s choice that tied the game at 3-3.

The Huskies poured it on from there, as Ed Johnson notched an RBI double on a fly ball that was lost in the sun by Hoover’s right fielder. Tyler Mauldin followed an intentional walk to Carson Skipper with a bloop single that scored two more runs.

That’s character.

On the other side of the game, Johnson was given an opportunity to do something no one in the ball park had ever seen him do: throw a complete game.

That’s because Johnson himself had never done it before, much less even start a game.

Johnson, Hewitt-Trussville’s primary shortstop and an Auburn signee, was used as the Huskies’ closer most of the season. Jeff Mauldin told him from the outset that there was the possibility of him pitching extended innings at some point in the year, but had only done so once in an extra-inning game against Huntsville.

“Amazing job for a kid that’s never started a high school game in his career on the mound,” Jeff Mauldin said. “He’s never pitched in high school until this year. We had two other guys that were good, we just felt like Ed was the best option against their offense.”

Johnson allowed three runs on six hits, while striking out six.

Hewitt-Trussville had to battle back from a deficit after allowing three runs in the fourth inning. The Huskies started the game with a bang, though, jumping on Hoover for two runs in the first three batters. Johnson doubled on the first pitch of the day and came home on Skipper’s triple down the right field line. Skipper came around to score on Tyler Mauldin’s RBI groundout.

But after that, Hoover starter Griffin Lape settled in and only allowed one hit in the second through sixth innings.

Hewitt-Trussville now advances to host James Clemens in the second round next weekend. If the Huskies plan on advancing again, they will need to tap into that character once again.

Jeff Mauldin said, “The biggest thing we’ve got to do is take tomorrow off and Monday, it’s over.”

Click here for a recap from our sister paper, the Hoover Sun, of the first two games of the series.