Hartselle Lady Tigers drive to county title
By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
You can call Hartselle’s girls’ golf team young, just don’t call them inexperienced.
The Lady Tigers dominated the Morgan County Golf Championships Thursday afternoon at Point Mallard Golf Course with a 38-stroke win over runner-up Austin.
The county championship was the second straight for the Lady Tigers.
Hartselle will be seeking its second straight Class 1A-5A state championship this season.
Four of the five Hartselle golfers finished with scores of 40 or better on the back nine to dominate the field.
Hartselle’s Arin Eddy shot a 76 to earn low medalist honors in the tournament.
Eddy was at 36 after the front nine and finished with a 40 on the backside to edge teammate Kaylon King for low medalist.
King shot a 77, while Heather Nail added a round of 82 to give the Lady Tigers three all-county golfers.
Nail had a 42 over the first nine holes of play, but rebounded with a 40 on the backside to finished third overall.
Compton - five strokes off a spot on the all-county team - finished at 89, while Mary Roberts shot a 94.
Decatur (318) finished third, followed by Brewer (337) and Priceville (344).
Brewer’s Whitney Borden (103) and Brooke Harvel (113) led the Lady Patriots. Kelsey Jones added a round of 131 for the Lady Patriots.
Mackenzie Akin shot a 105 to lead Priceville. Savannah Prentice (117), Molly Hogeland (122) and Katie Hawkins (130) completed the Lady Bulldogs’ lineup.
Decatur won the boys’ varsity championship, but it was Danville who came away with an impressive finish.
The Hawks finished one stroke behind the Red Raiders after two players came up with bogeys on their final holes of the tournament.
The Hawks’ players finished with rounds in the 70s: Daniel Bowen finished at 73 to finish second overall. Dillon Childers shot a 74, while David Bates carded a 45.
All three players earned all-county honors.
Bowen shot a 33 on the front nine - the lowest nine-hole score of the tournament.
Decatur’s Braxton Rainey was one stroke better than Bowen to claim low medalist honors after making up four strokes over the final nine holes.
Danville’s runner-up finish was the highest for the Hawks since a second-place finish in 1992 before all of the team’s current players were even born.
The Hawks finished third in last year’s tournament.
Hartselle finished fourth with a team score of 333. Carson Clemons finished at 79, while Preston Adams and Aaron Compton both shot rounds of 82.
Robbie Fields was at 90 for the day and John David Pittman shot a 98 for the Tigers.
Priceville finished five strokes behind Hartselle with Micah Rigoni pacing the Bulldogs with his round of 77.
Jameson Dozier finished with an 85, while Brett Wilson and Chad Steelmon had rounds of 87 and 89 respectively. Neely Kirby’s round of 97 capped Priceville’s finish.
The rest of the field included Decatur Heritage (341), West Morgan (408), Falkville (416) and Brewer (441).
Travis Blankenship led Falkville with a 91, while J.J. Puckett finished at 99. Garrett Miller (108), Jared Hurd (118) and James Calloway (129) rounded out the Blue Devils’ players.
Brewer’s Tyler Parker shot a 99 to lead the Patriots. Nathan Styles finished at 110, while Clint Murphree and Brett Lavender shot rounds of 115 and 118 respectively.
