Pair of aces gives Huskies the winning hand

If you’re looking for the key factors in Hewitt-Trussville’s Class 7A state baseball championship, Jeff Mauldin can lay them on the table.

“I can’t speak highly enough for two kids, at this level, in the state championship, to throw back-to-back shutouts,” Mauldin said. “We walked nobody in 14 innings — you can’t say enough about those two guys and what they did.” 

A pair of left-handed aces — sophomore Carson Skipper and junior Cameron Furr — topped anything the Auburn Tigers had in their deck.

Skipper set the tone with a three-hit shutout, striking out eight, in Friday’s series-opening 6-0 win. Furr finished the deal with a four-hit shutout, fanning four in Saturday’s 2-0 clincher. Neither Husky hurler walked a batter in their 14 innings on the hill.

The performance was so dominant, so complete, that the Huskies’ other fine pitchers — junior Cameron Moore and sophomore Davis Burgin among them — were not required. In a tough call, Skipper was given the series’ most valuable player honor over Furr by the media covering the game, largely because Skipper played first base in Game 2, had an RBI single and made some nice defensive plays. 

“I had everything working today,” Furr said. “I watched the game last night, and I saw they struggled with the curve ball [and] tried to take the same approach Carson did. It’s hard to live up to a three-hit shutout, but I feel like I did a pretty good job.”

 “This means the world to me. I’m more excited about this than anything ever. It’s a huge honor to be named MVP,” Skipper said.

To get to Montgomery, the Huskies first had to battle out of their own area. A year ago, they were disappointed in not making the playoffs. They were 0-4 in the area, so despite having been ranked No. 1 in the state for three straight weeks, at one point during the season, they had to stay home. 

This season, the Huskies made amends. They went 3-1 in area play, then beat Hoover 18-4 and 11-7, took two of three from Oak Mountain 6-5, 0-6, 7-5 and stunned top-ranked Sparkman in a doubleheader sweep 6-3, 4-3 in the state semifinals to earn the trip to the Capital City. 

In Game 1 in Montgomery at Paterson Field, Skipper bested Andrew Naismith with a three-hit shutout 6-0. Tied 0-0 in the fifth, the Huskies scratched out an infield hit, worked a couple of walks and then Keegan Morrow drilled a ball deep into the left-center gap to clear the bases to give the Huskies a 3-0 lead. Skipper’s stellar pitching effort made it stand up. He struck out eight and walked none to win his 11th game of the season, a school record.

In Saturday’s game at Riverwalk, Furr picked up on the mound where Skipper left off Friday in the 2-0 clincher. Furr allowed four hits, struck out four and walked none as the Hewitt pitchers completed a shutout sweep over the Tigers. 

Hewitt broke out on top right out of the box in the bottom of the first against Auburn’s Ryan Watson (5-1). Tyler Tolbert raked a single, and while the Tigers were casually returning the ball to the pitcher, the speedy second baseman never slowed down, charging right on to second base.

The Tigers, having been subjected to “SMauldinball” in Game 1, were rocked right back on their heels by the dashing and daring baserunning.

“We call that, ‘Eyes up,’” Mauldin said. “He’s done that twice this year, once against Vestavia in the area playoffs, and he’s 2-for-2. He’s looking for the infielders to have their backs to the bag and not playing attention. It’s a very gutsy play. But I told them before the game, we need to come out and score first. We knew Auburn’s a good team; they’re going to come out fighting, and if we can score first, we’re going to get the momentum, show them we’re going to be aggressive.”

Tolbert moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Johnson.

Hewitt added its second run in the third inning. Tolbert led off again with a base hit but was caught stealing. With two outs, Morrow singled and stole second, and Skipper brought him home with a bloop single to left just over the shortstop’s outstretched glove.

Furr finished it off, and the Huskies had their long-awaited first state baseball championship.

Keegan Morrow’s bases-loaded triple in Game 1? Critical. Tyler Tolbert’s dashing and daring baserunning? Crucial. The Huskies’ solid and occasionally spectacular defense? Clutch.

But the dominance of the Huskies’ two aces? That’s the call.

You’ve just got to hand it to them.