PREP UPDATE: Tallassee baseball clinches playoff berth, MA stays alive; ACA softball tops Trinity

COMBINED REPORTS

Montgomery Academy kept its playoff hopes alive on Friday with a doubleheader sweep of Prattville Christian Academy, defeating the Panthers 3-0 in the first game and taking the tiebreaker 8-7 in the second game.

Despite losing the first game of the series, the Eagles remain in the area race at 1-3 entering the final area weekend next week. St. James leads Area 5 at 3-1, followed by ACA (2-2) and PCA (2-2). Montgomery Academy closes out area play on Thursday at home against Alabama Christian before traveling to the AUM Baseball Complex next Friday for a doubleheader. Montgomery Academy needs to sweep ACA and have PCA lose at least one game in its series with St. James to earn a playoff berth.

In the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, Vincent Desautels limited the Panthers to one hit over six innings in a 3-0 win. Finley Haigler pitched the seventh inning to earn the save.

Reid McBride went 2 for 3 and drove in a pair of runs and Kingston Nelson was 2 for 2 and scored a pair of runs in the win. William Marks added a hit and an RBI.

In the second game of the doubleheader, William Marks stole home to walk off PCA and complete the comeback in an 8-7 win. Montgomery Academy (15-13) trailed 6-0 in the fifth inning but battled back with four runs in the bottom of the fifth and four runs in the seventh.

Nelson went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a pair of runs scored and Marks had a pair of RBIs. Hudson Bradshaw added a hit and an RBI. Finley Haigler went 2 for 3 and pitched 2.2 innings of middle relief. 

Nathaniel Shaw started the game and went 2.1 innings, allowing two runs and four hits. Hays Marks picked up the win in relief.

Tallassee 12-12, LAMP 0-0

TALLASSEE -- Tallassee swept two games from LAMP over two days to maintain the lead in Class 4A Area 5.

In Thursday’s game, Jack Butler pitched a no-hitter for Tallassee as the Tigers won 12-0 at Southside Middle School.

Butler struck out eight and walked just one in defeating the Golden Tigers. Matthew Lutz took the loss for LAMP, allowing 12 runs, six earned, on 10 hits while striking out six and walking four.

Tallassee scored all the runs it would need in the first inning with RBI doubles by Brue Milner and Hamp Love, followed by a two-run single by Avery Brantley for a 4-0 lead.

Tallassee added to the lead in the second inning with a two-run home run by Milner, a bases-loaded walk by Hudson Timmerman and a run-scoring single by Butler for an 8-0 lead.

Brantley, Milner, Butler, Abram Whittington and Love each had two hits for Tallassee.

On Friday, Avery Brantley and Brandon Goodman combine for the shutout. Kole Burton led THS with three hits.

The wins clinched a playoff berth for the Tigers (15-9, 6-0).

SOFTBALL

Alabama Christian 11, Trinity 1

Campbell Hammett went 2 for 4 and drove in four runs as part of a 12-hit attack as the Eagles defeated Trinity 11-1 at Denise Ainsworth Field in a Class 3A Area 5 contest that was halted in the fifth inning by the 10-run mercy rule.

The win allowed ACA (3-2 in area play) and Trinity (3-2) to split the season series as both teams have games remaining against St. James (4-0). Should the two teams finish tied at the end of the area schedule, they will be seeded based on runs allowed in area games, but would still face each other in the opening round of the upcoming area tournament.

Elizabeth Hall went 2 for 3 with a triple, Anna Gleason went 2 for 3 with a pair of RBIs and Maddie Owens went 1 for 3 with an RBI as the Eagles watched a 2-0 lead cut in half in the top of the fourth before responding with seven runs in the bottom half of the inning to take control of the game.

Owens pitched a complete game, allowing just four hits and one run over five innings.

Marly Sharpless went 2 for 2 with a double and Emma Rose Meldrum went 1 for 2 with an RBI to lead Trinity.

Sharpless allowed 12 hits and 11 runs, three earned, in four innings as the Wildcats committed six errors in the field.

Montgomery Academy 12, G.W. Carver 7

Montgomery Academy rallied from a one-run deficit with four runs in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth for a 12-7 win over the Wolverines on Thursday.

The Eagles took the lead in the second inning when Ella Claire Corsino was hit by a pitch and another run scored on a passed ball, but the Wolverines scored five runs in the third inning for a 7-3 lead.

Montgomery Academy rallied to tie the game in the fourth with an RBI groundout by Emily Kathryn Casey and a bases-loaded walk by Layla Stovall. In the fifth, an RBI groundout by Corsino, an RBI double by Addison Kitchens and a two-run single by Davis Anne Fitzpatrick gave the Eagles a 12-7 lead.

Fitzpatrick earned the win in the circle, allowing four hits and five runs, two earned, over six innings while striking out 11 and walking three. Fitzpatrick also led the Eagles at the plate, going 2 for 4 with three RBIs.

Montgomery Academy travels to Tuskegee to play Booker T. Washington on Monday.