Phillips, Jackson lead way in Game 1
Tyler Phillips gets a high-five from teammate Zane Hamlett after Phillips hit a solo home run against Spanish Fort at Montgomery’s Paterson Field on Friday. Phillips also had a bases-loaded single down the line to drive in two runs. Hamlett also turned a key double play to preserve the win for starting pitcher Jackson Smith. | Brent Maze
MONTGOMERY – Hartselle used a 2-for-3, 3 RBI performance from Tyler Phillips and complete game from Jackson Smith to defeat Spanish Fort 8-2 in Game 1 of the Class 5A Championship Series at Paterson Field.
Phillips got a hit down the first base line to score two runs, capping a five-run, third inning. He also added an insurance run by smashing a home run to left field in the fifth inning.
“We face that same guy earlier in the year, and he threw me a lot of curveballs,” Phillips said. “He happened to put one right down the middle. I waited back and kept my hands on the inside. And it just went.”
On the two-run single, Phillips said he it was luck.
“I thought I swung way late, thought I was way behind it,” Phillips said. “I happened to hit it and God put it in the right spot.”
Smith did his part on the mount. He scattered six hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Both of the runs he allowed were unearned. Smith said he relied a lot on the fastball while mixing in the change-up and two-seamer.
“What I had to do to be successful was throw strikes and get ahead in the count and put pressure on them,” Smith said. “Good things will happen when you do that.
“I feel like my job is to get three outs as fast as I can, whether it’s strikeout, fly out or ground out.”
Hartselle got on the board in the top of the first inning with a two-run home run by Brett Blackwood, his 18th of the season. Deacon Aldridge set it up with a leadoff single.
Aldridge nearly added to the lead in the second inning, hitting a ball to shallow right field. Tyler Trammell, however, made a diving catch to end the threat.
In the third inning, Toro starting pitcher Ethan Walker walked the first two batters, setting up Chris Brown to drive in the third Hartselle run.
Colton Ord walked with the bases loaded, allowing Blackwood to score the fourth run. Zane Hamlett reached on an error to score Tanner Oakes, Brown’s runner.
That set up Tyler Phillips’ big hit to give the Tigers an insurmountable 7-0 lead.
After the big inning, the Tigers had a slight letdown on the defensive end. They committed three errors in the stanza allowing Spanish Fort to get on the board with two runs.
The Tigers settled down and closed out the game from there. Hamlett ended the fifth inning by turning a double play at second base.
Smith then allowed just one more base hit the rest of the way, as Hartselle cruised to the win.뼞
