Hartselle’s Booth reaches milestone with sweep in second round

William Booth was in no mood to celebrate his 800th career victory Friday night.
He was already planning his pitching strategy for No. 801.
The legendary Hartselle coach increased his state-record win total to 801 with the Tigers’ sweep of East Limestone in the Class 5A second round playoffs.
“Eight-hundred wins is just number,” said Booth after he was presented a plaque honoring the milestone achievement. “I’m more concerned with getting to the Final Four and 800 wins won’t get us there. Eight-hundred and one was more important to me.”
Hartselle beat East Limestone 14-3 Monday afternoon to earn a spot in the third round where the Tigers will face McAdory Friday.
“We hit the ball really well in the series, probably better than we have in 10 years,” Booth said.
Hartselle scored three times in the first inning and never looked back on the way to Booth’s record win.
Ryan Joy led the Tigers with his 11th homer of the season – a solo shot in the third inning – that gave him a school-record 30 career homers.
East Limestone scored twice in the second inning to trim Hartselle’s advantage to 7-3, but the Indians never got any closer.
Drew Cowan doubled in a pair of runs in the second that highlighted the Tigers’ four-run second inning.
Hartselle ended the game by the 10-run mercy rule when Cowan doubled with the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Austin Reeves, the Tigers’ starter earned the win, while Ethan Howell and Colby Nelson worked in relief.
Hartselle 10, East Limestone 4
Booth’s 800th win came in the first round with a 10-4 victory over East Limestone as Tres Austin scattered seven hits in a complete game win.
Logan Cain led the Tigers with an RBI single and a solo homer.
The Tigers broke the game open in the bottom half of the third inning with three runs.
Cain led off with his 13th homer of the season to start the inning. Drew Cowan and Andrew Hampton added singles and Dax Gillespie drove in a run with a fielder’s choice.
East Limestone cut the gap to 4-2 with two runs in the top of the fifth inning when the Indians picked up a two-run triple from Cade Medley off Austin.
Hampton drove in two runs in the fifth inning with a double to push the Hartselle lead to 7-2.
Drake Lewter kept East Limestone in the game with a two-run homer in the sixth inning.
Hartselle closed out the game with three runs in the sixth inning with the help of singles by Gavin Marsh and Ryan Joy.
Robby Reece and Drew Cowan had three hits each for the Tigers. Joy and Hampton added two hits each.