Hartselle baseball clinches playoffs
The Hartselle baseball team has officially clinched a spot in the Class 5A playoffs by sweeping a doubleheader at West Point Thursday, April 7.
The Tigers can win the area if they defeat Cullman in the first game of doubleheaders at home and on the road this week.
The Tigers faced a must-win situation after they lost the first game of a April 5 doubleheader to West Point, which is the game that counts toward the area record.
However, the Tigers rallied to win the second game that night and earned the tiebreaker advantage with the doubleheader sweep.
“It was a big win for our team after losing to West Point,” said Hartselle coach William Booth. “Now, we have a chance to win the area (this week) if we can beat Cullman both times.”
Hartselle took the first game 6-3 behind the pitching of Jackson Smith. He pitched the complete game striking out four and allowing six hits and one walk. All three runs for West Point were unearned.
Kaleb Jones led the hitting by reaching base three times on a pair of doubles and a walk with an RBI. Austin Spangler scored twice and had an RBI. Zach Letson also had two hits and a run while Colton Ord had two hits, a run and an RBI. Todd Gibson and Deacon Aldridge both scored runs.
Will Swann was also 2-for-3 with an RBI.
In game two, Hartselle scored 10 unanswered runs to win 10-1 and clinch the tiebreaker.
An unearned run scored for West Point in the second inning, but that would be all the Warriors would get. Jacob Garrison got the win on the mound allowing just four hits and no walks in six innings in just 63 pitches. Hunter McCaghren closed out the final inning, as the game ended with Jones catching the base runner stealing.
Chris Brown and Jones led the way with 3-for-4 hitting. Jones had three RBIs and two runs while Brown had two RBIs and a run.
Aldridge and Ord both had two hits while Letson reached base three times despite not getting a hit. Spangler also had a hit, a run and an RBI.
Brookwood 3, HHS 0
Aaron Wooley struck out seven and allowed only one earned run on eight hits, but it wasn’t enough to get the win.
Hartselle collected seven hits, but wasn’t able to string enough of them together. Ord had the most hits with two. Brown, Swann, Gillespie, Gibson and Aldridge also had hits.
HHS 6, Lee 4
Brown’s two-run double with bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Hartselle the win.
That was Brown’s only hit of the game, which allowed Spangler and Ord to score.
Ord led the way with a 3-for-3 outing with three RBIs and a run. Aldridge made it on base all five times with two walks, a hit and being hit by a pitch twice. Gibson had one hit and two runs.
Coby Nelson earned the win going four innings, allowing two runs and striking out three. McCaghren had five strikeouts as he pitched the first four innings.
Sparkman 14-10, HHS 10-8
Hartselle hit the ball well against Sparkman, but it wasn’t enough to win either game of the doubleheader April 6.
Leading the attack was Spangler, who was 6-for-10 with five RBIs and three runs. Letson and Jones both went 5-for-9 with two RBIs each. Letson had three runs while Jones had two runs.
Tyler Phillips also came on and went 2-for-4 in the second game with two runs.
Ord took the loss in the first game allowing 10 hits and eight earned runs with four strikeouts.
The second game went to extra innings as Hartselle tied the game at 8-8 in the sixth ining. In the eight inning, Sparkman hit a two-run home run to provide the difference in the game.
HHS 4-13, BHS 2-0
Hartselle’s three-run fifth inning gave Hartselle a win over Brewer March 31. Drew Cowan and Aldridge collected two hits each in the win.
Garrison got the win with eight strikeouts and allowing just five hits in six innings.
Hartselle racked up 13 hits in game two and scored 13 runs.
Jones was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI. Letson and Gillespie also had two hits on the day with Letson collecting five RBIs. Others who garnered hits included Cowan, Brown, Aldridge, Swann, Gibson and Phillips. Gillespie, Cowan, Phillips and Gibson also had RBIs.
