AHSAA SOFTBALL: ACA returns to state tourney with win over Beulah

Alabama Christian players celebrate their victory over Beulah and the entry into the AHSAA State Softball tourney with the win. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

They’re back!

 It was impossible for Alabama Christian Academy players not to feel the weight of the last two years on their shoulders as they took the field for the seventh inning of Thursday’s game with Beulah to determine the last state tournament qualifier from the 3A Central Regional. 

The state’s top fast pitch program with the most state tournament appearances and most wins had not advanced to the eight-team championship tournament the last two years. In 28 years as a fast pitch program, ACA missed the state tournament in its first season (1996) and again as a Class 5A program (2016) but made every other appearance until 2022 and 2023.

“I think it’s just not letting the nerves get to you,” said pitcher Izzy Warrick, who played on the last state tournament team as an eighth grader in 2021. “It’s just another inning, but it’s also not just another inning. Relax, no nerves, just make routine routine.

“I think as the game goes on, I feel like I get better and better each inning. And I really wanted this today. Inside me, I was like, we’re going to state and I don’t care what it takes.”

Elizabeth Hancock’s two-out, two-run single pulled Beulah within a run but Warrick recovered by striking out Clara Burke to close the door on a 9-8 win by the Eagles at Lagoon Park Softball Complex on Thursday afternoon.  

“It feels amazing,” Warrick said. “It takes me back to my eighth-grade year when we went to state. I’ve missed state the past two years and it feels really great to be back there this year.”

Alabama Christian (15-19) will face Plainview (34-9) in the opening round of the 3A state tournament in Oxford on Thursday at 10:45 a.m.

In many of those previous 23 appearances, ACA would enter the tournament as a favorite -- its previous six appearances as a 3A team have all reached the state finals -- but in February as first-year coach Meagan Whisenant went through early practices, she knew she was planning for a long rebuilding process. 

“I told them, ‘Well, if anything else, this will be a year to rebuild,’” Whisenant said. “They kind of proved me wrong. It wasn’t just a year to rebuild. We came out on top.”

Warrick, a four-year starter, said the players felt the same way as their coach. 

“At the beginning of the season, we were struggling with the routine things,” she said. “But we came together and we were like, we can upset everybody. People didn’t believe us at the beginning of the season and I think that really lit a fire in all of us in saying, hey, we’re going to make it to state this year.”

The Eagles, area runners-up to St. James, defeated Childersburg and Randolph County on the regional’s first day before losing 11-6 to St. James on Thursday morning. The Eagles regrouped while awaiting the winner of the Randolph County-Beulah game, then rallied past the Bobcats twice to earn the regional’s second qualifying berth in the state tournament. 

“In seeing them grow, even in this tournament, it’s been absolutely amazing,” Whisenant said. “I couldn’t be any prouder of them.”

The rally wasn’t complete until Chloe Childs and Campbell Hammett hit one-out singles in the bottom of the sixth. With her team trailing 6-5, Warrick stepped to the plate.

“As soon as she came up to the plate with two runners on, there was not a doubt about what I wanted her to do,” Whisenant said. “I just wanted her to hit. She goes up there, looks at the field, sees where she wants to hit the ball and she does it.”

Warrick drove a pitch into left center field to score both runners and put ACA on top 7-6. She scored when Lilly Sconyers reached base on an error and Sconyers scored on another error to give the Eagles a 9-6 lead. 

“I was trying to hit it middle or right side,” Warrick said. “I’ve got two of the most intelligent and fastest players on the base paths and if I hit it in play, they’re going to score.”

Warrick ran into trouble in the seventh when Libby Buchanan singled and Abrianna Green reached base on an error. The ACA pitcher struck out Madyson Snedigar and got Kyleigh Morgan, who had hit a three-run homer earlier in the game, to pop up. Hancock drove in both runners and went to second on the throw to the plate, leaving the Bobcats a hit away from tying the game and possibly ruining the dream. 

Whisenant’s response?  

“A lot of prayers and a lot of superstition,” she said. “I made sure to get back on my bucket after that one hit. I had stood up, then I immediately got back on my bucket. 

Warrick’s response? Striking out Burke to send the Eagles to Oxford, releasing a flood of emotions from a group of players who had returned the program to its traditional place in the championship tournament.  

“They’re what’s important,” Whisenant said. “I’m just here to guide. You can see how they feel.”