CLASS 3A AREA 5 SOFTBALL: Alabama Christian's regional streak ends at hands of Trinity; St. James wins tourney
Trinity’s Marley Sharpless fields grounder and throws to first in the Wildcats’ win over ACA. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Trinity coach Stan Milton told his softball players a story at a team dinner on Monday night, a story of the last time the Wildcats appeared in a regional.
“I told them you’ve got a chance to make history and be the first group in a long time to get back to regionals,” Milton said. “We also have the opportunity to break (Alabama Christian’s) streak -- they’ve had a lot of success being really consistent -- so we had a lot riding on it.”
Trinity erupted for six runs in an error-filled fourth inning to make history by advancing to the 3A Area 5 tournament championship game and qualify for the regional tournament for the first time since 2014.
After beating Alabama Christian 12-2, the Wildcats (10-12) were defeated by St. James 9-4 in the championship game. Alabama Christian (10-26), meanwhile, ended its season with the loss to Trinity, marking the first time since 1996 -- their first season as a fast pitch program -- the Eagles did not advance to the postseason.
“We had a lot of stuff to overcome,” ACA coach Greg Howard said. “I’m the third coach since Chris Goodman so the seniors, I’m the third (coach) they’ve played for. We had a lot of people, even though they’re older, that have never been put in that position. I think the future for ACA softball is bright. I wish I could take all three seniors and make them juniors so they could play Year Two with me.”
Trinity, reaching the postseason for the first time since finishing fifth in the 2014 South Central Regional at Troy, kept constant pressure on the ACA defense, forcing the Eagles into five errors.
“We hit better today than yesterday,” Howard said. “Their pitcher threw great yesterday and hit her spots; she threw great today. When you don’t space your errors out, usually great things don’t come after that.”
Only three of Trinity’s 12 runs were earned.
“Once we started hitting, it kind of snowballed,” Milton said. “You could tell it deflated them as we kept hitting and hitting and hitting. Put the pressure on them. Whether you hit it at them or not, just hit the ball hard and get down the line and make them make a play. We put pressure on them and came out on the good side of it.”
Trinity had unearned runs in both the first and second innings to grab a 2-0 lead, but the Eagles rallied with mistakes by the Wildcats, scoring a run with a Trinity error, then getting an RBI single from Elizabeth Hall to tie the game.
The Wildcats broke open the game in the fourth inning with a pair of ACA errors loading the bases. From there, two-run singles by Harper Johnson and Kayleigh Creel put Trinity on top 7-2. Marley Sharpless drove in another run with a groundout and Emory Harris added an RBI double for a 9-2 lead.
The Wildcats added three more runs in the fifth inning, ending the game on the 10-run mercy rule when Sharpless drew a bases-loaded walk.
Seventh grader Layla Pelt held the Eagles to five hits.
“Layla wasn’t getting the calls on the corner that she normally gets,” Milton said, “but she kept battling in the circle and we were playing really good defense behind her.”
Howard, meanwhile, praised his trio of seniors -- Hall, Campbell Hammett and Anna Gleason -- for their leadership this season.
“We’ve been through a lot,” he said. “Yesterday, in her first at-bat, my center fielder (Hammett’s) shoulder popped out of place. That changes our dynamic of what we can do because now everyone knows she has to bunt. When she gets on base, we’ve been able to get things going.
”(Gleason) had a pulled quad she played on. Elizabeth Hall had a torn labrum she caught with and my center fielder had a shoulder that keeps popping out. They played pretty much hurt the entire year. I’m just proud of them. Trinity earned it today and made the plays when they needed to make them but we never quit.”
St. James tops Trinity for Area Tourney title
St. James won its fourth consecutive area championship with a 9-4 win over Trinity in the 3A Area 5 Tournament on Tuesday, but it didn’t come without some anxious moments for the Trojans.
Trinity’s Emma Rose Meldrum, who went 4 for 4 against the Trojans, ripped a two-run double to the left field fence in the fourth inning to give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead before St. James finally rallied with a five-run sixth inning to break a 4-4 tie.
“Trinity came in a little hot, playing well, so credit to them,” St. James coach Mark Hall said. “But it seemed like, early, everything we did hit hard, we hit it at somebody and they made a really good play. That’s the game of softball. It happens. But I give credit to the opponent. They played really good softball today. We were a little sluggish to begin with, but we picked it up when we needed to.”
The Trojans (31-6-1) now advance to the Central Regional next week at Lagoon Park and will play Thorsby in an opening round game on May 13 at 9 a.m.
Trinity (10-12), making its first regional appearance since 2014, will play Childersburg in an opening round game in the Central Regional on May 13 at 10:45 a.m.
The Wildcats, fresh off a 12-2 win over Alabama Christian to reach the area tournament final, struck for a pair of runs off of St. James starter Aleigha Davis, then added two more in the fourth inning off of Trojan ace Emily Needham to take the lead.
“More importantly, we know we can hit off of one of the best pitchers (Needham) in the state of Alabama,” Trinity coach Stan Milton said. “We hit her more today than we have in years and knowing we’ll see good pitching in the regional, it gives us confidence.”
Both of the runs were unearned after a pair of errors caused Hall to berate his team for its attitude.
“We had an inning where we didn’t make a few plays that I considered routine,” Hall said. “I felt like we were kind of going through the motions. We’ve won this area tournament four years in a row and sometimes they assume they’re going to win.”
Davis went just two innings before being replaced by Needham in the third inning.
“That was the plan all along,” Hall said. “Aleigha was going to go two or three innings and then we were going to go with Emily. We stuck to the plan. Aleigha did great. She needs more reps. The further we advance, we’re going to need Aleigha.”
That set up a pitching duel over the next three innings between Trinity’s Layla Pelt, a seventh grader, and Needham, the University of South Alabama signee who held the Wildcats to five hits and no earned runs while striking out 11.
“The young pitcher did great,” Hall said. “She must have a lot of spin on the ball because she gets a lot of popups or weak ground balls. But everything we hit hard did not fall today; but some of the things we miss-hit did fall. We had a big double down the right field line that Lily (Stanford) will tell you she didn’t hit it as well as she wanted to, but it ended up falling.”
Stanford’s two-run bloop double followed Mary Olive Maddox’s RBI groundout, giving the Trojans a 7-4 lead. Needham and Mia Zukowski followed with RBI singles for a 9-4 lead.
Milton replaced Pelt after Zukowski’s single and then briefly replaced reliever Marley Sharpless in the seventh inning with Meldrum, who walked Emily Darby on five pitches.
“She’s been wanting all year to throw in a game,” Milton said. “We told her if we beat ACA, we’ll let you throw, but I think she was the most shocked of everybody when I actually went out there to put her in. But she’s such a tough competitor and she thinks she’s going to beat you no matter where she’s at.”
Sydney Johnston went 2 for 5, Stanford went 2 for 4 , Needham went 2 for 3 and Zukowski went 3 for 4 as the Trojans pounded out 14 hits to shake off a slow start.
“From now until the end, we will play quality softball teams,” Hall said. “So if you slack up for one inning, one pitch or are not focused in one at-bat, that’s the difference between winning and losing.”