Hartselle secures spot in Montgomery

HUNTSVILLE – Hartselle bounced back from the loser’s bracket to finish second in the North Regional Softball Tournament and earn a third consecutive trip to the state tournament in Montgomery beginning Thursday (today).
Hartselle (41-19) is matched against Moody in the opening round at 10:30 a.m. With a win, Hartselle would play the winner of the Mortimer Jordan-Rehobeth game at 3 p.m.
“For us it’s always understood that our goal is to make the final eight teams in the state playoffs and compete for a state championship,” said Hartselle head coach Daniel Bates.
“We had to overcome a lot to get there and that makes me feel good about this team. They demonstrated a lot of determination and guts by battling back after being down and that makes me extremely proud of them.”
“I saw these girls come together as a team more than at any other time in the season after we beat Southside and made it to state,” he pointed out. “Seeing them leaning on each other and getting lifted up in the excitement made me feel good.
“It was tough for them to have to play four games in one day. I told them to leave everything they had on the playing field and they did that. Now they have the opportunity to dance at the big dance. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when the best eight 5A teams in the state face off against each other.”
Athens beat Hartselle 9-8 in the regional finals to also earn a state tournament berth.
In that contest, Hartselle led 3-0 in the first inning before Athens answered with four runs in the bottom of the same inning. The Lady Tigers tied the score at 4-all in the second inning and regained the lead at 6-4 in the fourth. Athens went up 8-6 in the sixth inning and Hartselle tied the score at 8-all in the sixth. The winning run was scored in the bottom of the 10th inning.
The Lady Tigers collected nine hits. Leah Robinson paced the attack with a homer and a single. Chelsea Bennich homered, Alex Paulsen had a pair of singles, Ashley Bonner tripled, Olivia Golden doubled and Katie Gentle and Jacquie Shadden each singled.
Breanna Riley pitched four and two-third innings and was credited with the loss. She allowed five runs on 10 hits while striking out three. Meaghan Gray pitched five and one-third innings in relief. She allowed four runs on two hits.
Hartselle 1, Southside 0
The Lady Tigers clinched their third consecutive trip to the state playoffs by defeating Southside of Gadsden 1-0 in a Saturday afternoon loser’s bracket game.
The winning run came in the third inning on a leadoff single by Shadden, a sacrifice bunt by Kelsey Starr and a double by Gentle. Baylee Holt had a double for Hartselle’s only other hit.
Gray went the distance on the mound and was credited with the win She allowed only two hits while striking out five.
She struck out two of the last four batters she faced in the seventh after the leadoff batter reached base on an error.
Hartselle 9, East Limestone 1
Hartselle’s Lady Tigers bounced back from their loss to Scottsboro by pounding East Limestone 9-1 in a loser’s bracket game.
Hartselle grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning, added two runs each in the second and fifth innings and put the game out of reach with a four-run rally in the fifth. East Limestone’s lone run came in the fifth.
Hartselle batters stroked 12 hits with Gentle leading the way. In her first appearance as leadoff batter, she blasted a home run and followed with a triple and single. Golden followed with a double and a pair of singles, Paulsen doubled and singled, Bonner homered and Shadden, Holt and Starr each singled.
Gray pitched all seven innings and was credited with the win. She allowed one run on four hits while striking out six.
Scottsboro 8, Hartselle 1
Hartselle fell into the loser’s bracket in the second round of regional play on Friday night by virtue of a 1-8 loss to Scottsboro.
The winners broke open a scoreless game in the fourth inning by scoring a single run, and followed up with two runs in the fifth, one run in the sixth and four more in the seventh. Hartselle’s only run came in the sixth.
The Lady Tigers were limited to five hits. Bennich had a pair of singles, Gentle and Paulsen each doubled and Shadden singled.
Riley allowed eight runs on 10 hits while striking out nine and walking three.
Hartselle 15, J.O. Johnson 0
Hartselle’s Lady Tigers needed only one time at bat to take care of J. O. Johnson’s Lady Jaguars in the opening round of regional tournament action at the Sportsplex in Huntsville Friday morning.
In the bottom half of the first inning they sent 19 batters to the plate, scored 15 runs on seven hits, six walks, two hit batters, three errors and four passed balls. The rout ended only after a runner left base early and was called out. With a 15-run, three-inning game imminent, the same thing was repeated with all three batters who reached first base safely in the bottom of the second.
Gray fanned five of the nine batters she faced in three innings and was credited with a no-hit win. She also singled in a run and scored a run.
Other Lady Tigers with hits were Robinson, Ali Staudt, Emily Nix, Allie Hill, Holt and Kayla Faulk.