AISA SOFTBALL: Hooper, Macon East, Lowndes all back in finals to defend title

Victoria Hagemann led Hooper Academy to the Class AA title game both in the circle and at the plate with a home run. The Colts will face Edgewood Academy on Saturday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

The Hooper Academy Colts picked the right time to find their bats.

The Colts avenged their last loss with a vengeance, scoring seven runs in the sixth inning to defeat Edgewood Academy 16-2 on Friday in the Class AA semifinals of the Alabama Independent School Association state softball tournament at Lagoon Park Softball Complex. 

Hooper (31-8) advanced to the finals with the victory. Edgewood defeated Abbeville Christian 12-4 in the elimination round of the double-elimination tournament, earning a rematch with the Colts in the championship game on Saturday at 1 p.m.

All three defending state champions advanced to the finals, with AAA Macon East beating Clarke Prep to reach the finals and A Lowndes avenging an earlier loss to Crenshaw Christian with a win over the Cougars to reach the championship game against South Choctaw Academy.

For Hooper, which won its first state softball championship last year, the state tournament has been a tuneup. The Colts have defeated three different AA opponents by a combined 36-3 score, including the last team to beat them. Edgewood, in fact, has won three of the previous five meetings with Hooper this year but the Colts didn’t seem concerned with facing an Edgewood team that had won 17 straight games entering Friday’s rematch.

“I really wasn’t worried,” Hooper Academy coach Elyse Grier said. “Our girls have been hitting the ball. We hit the ball well (on Thursday). We’ve been working on mindset and mentality, getting back to neutral when things happen that don’t go our way. That really worked out for us today. The way our girls have been hitting? No, I wasn’t worried today.

“We’ve hit so well. We’re seeing the ball well, for whatever reason. Maybe we’re just zoned in and focused. I think the drive from last year -- knowing what we were capable of last year -- has just trickled over to this year. We have a lot of girls coming back, so it’s a lot of experience. Not just physical, but from an emotional and mental standpoint of knowing what to do, when you do it, how to do it. And how to fix issues.”   

Hooper, making just its third-ever appearance in the finals on Saturday, will face Edgewood, which has played for a state championship 10 times, winning seven. But just as the Colts did last year, they’re entering the state tournament playing their best softball of the season. 

“It’s the girls,” Grier said. “They’re the ones that come together and play the game. I can’t pitch for them, I can’t hit for them. They’re the ones who have to step on that field and produce. And their mindsets are ready for this.”

In Friday’s game, Hooper was leading 4-1 in the second inning but Edgewood had loaded the bases with the always-dangerous Lindsey Brown stepping to the plate against Hooper ace Victoria Hagemann. Brown grounded to third for the easy forceout and the Wildcats never threatened again as Hooper scored two runs in each of the next two innings.  

“I have a lot of respect for Lindsey,” Grier said. “She’s a good batter. That part does make you a little nervous. But Vic got back to neutral and did her job on the mound. She got out of that inning, which was huge.”

Hagemann was just as dangerous at the plate, homering in the first inning and scoring after a double in the fourth. Annie Bressler had a two-run double in the second, Kaylee Midkiff had a two-run home run in the sixth and Jaslynn Harris and Katie Robinson had back-to-back RBI singles in the sixth.

Brown doubled and scored in the first and doubled and scored in the fifth for Edgewood.

In AAA, Macon East scored eight runs over the final three innings to rally past the Gators 10-3 to reach the championship game for the 14th time in school history. Mollie Ross hit a two-run home run in the second, Casey Stengell added a two-run home run and Miya Tatum had a solo home run in the seventh.

Clarke Prep earned the rematch with a 2-1win over Lee-Scott as Brooke Brasell homered in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie.

In Class A, Lowndes battled back through the elimination bracket, beating North River 10-1 and Snook Christian 8-2 to earn the rematch with Crenshaw Christian. A day after losing to the Cougars 3-2, the Rebels won 11-3 in five innings to reach the finals against South Choctaw in a battle of Rebels.

South Choctaw has reached the finals on four previous occasions but has never won a state championship. Lowndes will be making its 10th appearance in the finals and will be seeking its first repeat since winning in 2013 and 2014 and reaching the finals in 2015.  

AISA SOFTBALL STATE TOURNAMENT RESULTS and PAIRINGS

Here are the pairings and results for the annual Alabama Independent School Association state softball tournament championship games on Saturday and the results of the double elimination tournament at Lagoon Park Softball Complex. The AA and AAA finals may be moved up 30 minutes if a second game isn’t necessary in the preceding championship division.

CLASS AAA

Game 1 -- Macon East Academy 9, Fort Dale Academy 6

Game 2 -- Bessemer Academy 12, Glenwood School 10

Game 3 -- Clarke Prep School 8, Springwood School 0

Game 4 -- Lee-Scott Academy 11, Monroe Academy 1

Game 5 -- Fort Dale Academy 6, Glenwood School 2

Game 6 -- Monroe Academy 12, Springwood School 8

Game 7 -- Macon East Academy 8, Bessemer Academy 7

Game 8 -- Clarke Prep School 7, Lee-Scott Academy 4

Game 9 -- Lee-Scott Academy 9, Fort Dale Academy 1 

Game 10 -- Bessemer Academy 13, Monroe Academy 2

Game 11 -- Macon East Academy 10, Clarke Prep School 3

Game 12 -- Lee-Scott Academy 8, Bessemer Academy 0

Game 13 -- Clarke Prep School 2, Lee-Scott Academy 1

Game 14 -- Championship: Macon-East Academy vs. Clarke Prep School, 4 p.m., Field 6 (A win by Clarke Prep would force a second game immediately following) 

CLASS AA

Game 1 -- Edgewood Academy 11, Jackson Academy 3

Game 2 -- Southern Academy 10, Abbeville Christian Academy 9

Game 3 -- Patrician Academy 5, Chambers Academy 3

Game 4 -- Hooper Academy 10, Pickens Academy 1

Game 5 -- Abbeville Christian Academy 14, Jackson Academy 2

Game 6 -- Chambers Academy 14, Pickens Academy 8

Game 7 -- Edgewood Academy 2, Southern Academy 1

Game 8 -- Hooper Academy 10, Patrician Academy 0

Game 9 -- Abbeville Christian Academy 7, Patrician Academy 4 

Game 10 -- Southern Academy 9, Chambers Academy 1

Game 11 -- Hooper Academy 16, Edgewood Academy 2

Game 12 -- Abbeville Christian Academy 7, Southern Academy 4

Game 13 -- Edgewood Academy 12, Abbeville Christian 4

Game 14 -- Championship: Hooper Academy vs. Edgewood Academy, 1 p.m., Field 6 (A win by Edgewood would force a second game immediately following.) 

CLASS A

Game 1 -- Snook Christian 9, North River Christian 0

Game 2 -- South Choctaw Academy 12, Coosa Valley Academy 2

Game 3 -- Lowndes Academy 11, Heritage Christian 0

Game 4 -- Crenshaw Christian 10, Cornerstone Christian 1

Game 5 -- North River Christian 14, Coosa Valley Academy 2

Game 6 -- Cornerstone Christian 14, Heritage Christian 4

Game 7 -- South Choctaw Academy 3, Snook Christian 2

Game 8 -- Crenshaw Christian 3, Lowndes Academy 2

Game 9 -- Lowndes Academy 10, North River Christian 1

Game 10 -- Snook Christian 5, Cornerstone Christian 4

Game 11 -- South Choctaw Academy 6, Crenshaw Christian 5 (9)

Game 12 -- Lowndes Academy 8, Snook Christian 2

Game 13 -- Lowndes Academy 11, Crenshaw Christian 3

Game 14 -- Championship: South Choctaw Academy vs. Lowndes Academy, 9:30 a.m., Field 6 (A win by Lowndes would force a second game immedately following.)