PREP UPDATE: Pike Road girls win state golf title; St. James comes up short in 3A softball
COMBINED REPORTS
BIRMINGHAM -- Pike Road finished first, Alabama Christian second and St. James third in the Alabama High School Athletic Association state golf tournament at RTJ Oxmoor Valley on Monday and Tuesday.
In the boys division, St. James finished third in Class 3A. In the girls, Pike Road was crowned 6A state champion, while Alabama Christian finished second in 1A-3A.
Lee-Scott Academy won the 3A boys title with a two-day score of 628, finishing ahead of Whitesburg Christian (659), St. James (670) and Locust Fork (706). For the Trojans, Eli Sommer and Gray Evans finished tied for sixth with a two-day total of 159. Sommer shot an 80 on Monday and a 79 on Tuesday, while Evans shot an 82 on Monday and a 77 on Tuesday.
Steve Chung was next for St. James with a 173, followed by Liam Devlin (179) and Richard Conner (208).
Individually, Boone Thigpen of Rogers was the low medalist with a two-day total of 150, followed by Lee-Scott’s Dvid Beard (152) and Montgomery Academy’s Jackson McIntyre (155). McIntyre, playing as an individual, shot a 76 on Monday and a 79 on Tuesday.
In Class 4A, Trinity’s Brycen Dorsch finished third overall, playing as an individual. Dorsch shot a 74 on Monday and a 73 on Tuesday to finish with a 147. He finished behind LSU-bound Hudson Lawson ( 140) from state champion Haleyville and Andrew Turner (143) from American Christian.
In the girls division, Pike Road had three golfers in the top 10 to finish 10 strokes ahead of Spanish Fort for the 6A title. Pike Road shot a 465, followed by Spanish Fort (475), Mountain Brook (510) and Mars Hill Bible (551).
Pike Road’s Beka Yang shot a two-day total of 149 to finish one stroke behind Athens’ Adalyn Pike for low medalist honors. Pike Road’s Lauryn Leonard finished sixth with a 157 and London Leonard was tied for ninth with a 159.
In 1A-3A, Wicksburg won the championship with a 511, followed by Alabama Christian (575), Piedmont (675) and Ider (680). ACA’s Julie Waldo was the low medalist and the 1A-3A individual state champion, shooting a 69 on Monday and a 68 on Tuesday to finish with a two-day total of 137.
Teammate Evelyn Tankersley was 10 strokes back with 147, shooting a 75 on Monday and a 72 on Tuesday to finish tied for second place with Providence Christian’s Kamdyn Kelley.
SOFTBALL
St. James fall short in Class 3A finals
OXFORD - The Wicksburg Panthers needed extra innings to earn a 4-3 victory over St. James (51-9) in a game that finished late Wednesday night, earning the Class 3A state championship at Choccolocco Park.
Chloe Joyner delivered a bases-loaded single to drive in Tylaya Lingo with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to forced extra innings on Dahlia Ganz’s two-RBI single that scored Lingo and Sarah Turvin.
“They just came through when it mattered most,” Wicksburg coach Josh Cox said.
Wicksburg won its second straight state title and first in Class 3A after winning the Class 2A title in 2024. The Panthers also advanced to the Class 2A championship round in 2023 before falling to Hatton.
Wicksburg (49-7) lost its first four games of the season and then won 49 of its last 53. The Panthers ended the season on a 14-game winning streak, including a 2-1 victory over St. James in the winners’ bracket final on Tuesday night.
Reliever Natalie Cole got the win with three innings of scoreless relief.
Emily Needham pitched a complete game for the Trojans, striking out 10.
In the ninth inning, Wicksburg put two runners on base with one out, and the Trojans intentionally walked Ganz to load the bases. Joyner then hit a bouncing ground ball that barely slipped through the right side of the infield.
St. James scored one in the first inning and two in the third, as Kaitylyn Hudson, Emily Darby and Tatiana Shuford each drove in a run.
Glenwood wins first baseball title in AHSAA
JACKSONVILLE – Lefty Mason McCraine walked three batters in the opening inning Game 2 of the Gators’ Class 3A State Baseball Championship Series with Gordo Wednesday afternoon but then struck out the side, eventually settling down to pitch five strong innings to lead Glenwood (35-5) to a 12-3 win over the Green Wave to claim the school’s first AHSAA state championship at Jacksonville State’s Rudy Abbot Field at Jim Case Stadium.
McCraine allowed four hits, two runs, five walks and struck out 10 to lead the Gators to the win in their first attempt to win a state title of any kind since joining the AHSAA this year.
He also hit a double and drove in two runs for the Gators, who swept the series with Gordo (28-17).