Hartselle falls short in bid for eighth state title

Hartselle senior Logan Cain watches Spanish Fort players celebrate their 5A state championship Saturday at Riverwalk Stadium. Spanish Fort swept the best-of-three series for the school’s first title.

MONTGOMERY — Hartselle’s offense that had hit 52 homers in its last 44 games turned toothless in the Class 5A championship series last weekend against Spanish Fort.
The unranked Tigers, a team that wasn’t even expected by many to contend for a state title were swept by Spanish Fort 10-0 and 4-1.
The championship was the first for the Toros, who unseated defending state champion Hartselle with tremendous pitching and timely hitting.
“Until the king is dead, he’s still the king,” said Spanish Fort head coach Tommy Walker. “Hartselle wasn’t going to advocate, so we had to kill the king. We think that Spanish Fort is the new king now.”
Hartselle finished the season with a 30-27 record after winning 29 of its last 44 games.
The Tigers were making their 10th appearance in a state championship series and were seeking their eighth state title since 1990.
We had a great, great year,” said Hartselle head coach William Booth. “It wasn’t the greatest. One team had a better year than us. But to be in the top two is quite an honor for us.
“We met a team that was maybe a little better prepared than us. Had we been hitting the ball like we had the last six weeks or so, it might have been a little different. Spanish Fort got their runners in and we didn’t. They hit when the opportunity was there and we didn’t.”
Spanish Fort won its first state baseball championship in the school’s five-year history and finished the season with a 32-11 mark.
“We felt all along that eventually we would have to go through Hartselle,” Walker said. “We thought we were a little more athletic and a little better than Hartselle.
“You want to be at your best when the game is the biggest,” Walker said. “We were expecting to be here.
Dax Gillespie had two of Hartselle’s five hits in the deciding game. Logan Cain, Robby Reece and Andrew Hampton also added hits for the Tigers.
But Hartselle had trouble putting much offense together against Rocky McCord, who improved to 9-2 after allowing just one run in seven innings.
Both teams struck for a run in the first inning in the second game.
Hartselle put together doubles from Logan Cain and Robby Reece that tied the game in the bottom half of the first off McCord.
Spanish Fort added a run in the top of the fourth with a fielder’s choice that scored Troy Brown.
Hartselle staged its biggest threat in the bottom of the fourth when the Tigers loaded the bases when Andrew Hampton walked, Gillespie singled and Zach Letson was hit by a pitch.
McCord got out of the jam when Mac Hendrix lifted a soft fly over first base and Spanish Fort’s Patrick McGavin – an Alabama signee – made a running over-the-shoulder catch to end the inning.
“If that flare drops, its two runs and the momentum goes right to Hartselle,” Walker said. “You could feel them kind of deflate just a little bit once Pat made the Willie Mays catch.
“It was our time. That’s all you can say.”
McCord allowed just one hit over the final three innings to seal the victory.
McGavin would have been ready to go in the late innings if McCord ran into any trouble, but the Toros’ starter dominated the Tigers down the stretch.
“Rocky was going to finish it. We knew he was going to finish it.”
Spanish Fort 10, Hartselle 0
For the second straight year, Hartselle dropped its first game of the Class 5A championship series after managing just six hits in a 10-0 loss to the Toros Friday afternoon at Paterson Field.
Pat McGavin, Rocky McCord and Justin Key hit homers in the opening game of the series that ended after six innings with the 10-run mercy rule.
The loss marked just the second time this season that Hartselle had been beaten without going seven innings.
Spanish Fort had 12 hits in the win as the Toros chased Hartselle pitcher Tres Austin from the mound in the second inning.
Austin fell to 9-5 overall with the loss. He allowed seven hits and eight runs in 1.1 innings.
Austin Reeves came on in relief to limit Spanish Fort to two runs in the final 3.2 innings.
But the win belonged to Spanish Fort starter Chris Beasley, who improved to 9-0 after scattering six Hartselle hits.
“We made play after play,” Walker said. “We couldn’t have played any better than we did.”
The Tigers’ Jackson Reeves finished with three hits in three plate appearances. Ryan Joy, Andrew Hampton and Mac Hendrix added hits for Hartselle.
Spanish Fort scored two runs in the first inning and added six runs an inning later to quickly put the game out of reach.
“It was just good we got out to a good start,” said Spanish Fort head coach Tommy Walker. “When we got two runs in the first we were able to loosen up a little bit. When we got six in the second, we were able to loosen up a lot more.”