AREA TOURNEY RECAP: LAMP eliminates STJ but ACA wins title; PCA storms back for championship; PC, Lanier break national records
LAMP’s Gracey Norris tags out Sydney Johnston of St. James in the Golden Tigers’ win Thursday at Lagoon Park. (Tim Gayle)
COMBINED REPORTS
One team very deserving of a postseason berth was going to be sitting at home.
St. James and LAMP would battle in the 4A Area 3 tournament on Thursday afternoon for the right to play in the championship game and a berth in the South Regionals next week. With students on hand cheering for both teams and two evenly matched teams that had split the regular-season series, there was one difference between the Trojans and the Golden Tigers.
LAMP had Caitlin Russell.
“When she toed the rubber, there was no doubt in my mind,” LAMP coach Anthony Norris said. “You’re not going to rattle that kid. There were a lot of fans here today and it was a great atmosphere. Everybody wanted that game. We were pretty evenly matched except she was my ace in my pocket. When I have her on the mound, there’s no choke or give in that kid.”
The junior ace threw a one-hitter, never allowing a runner past first base, as she handcuffed the Trojan batters in a 2-0 victory at Lagoon Park Softball Complex.
“I liked the atmosphere,” Russell said. “I thrive in that situation. You kind of have to accept the challenge and instead of hearing all the things they say and letting it break you down, you have to laugh it off.”
LAMP (25-13) earned a postseason berth in the 4A South Regionals with the win. St. James, meanwhile, ends a promising season at 26-11.
“I’m disappointed,” St. James coach Mark Hall said. “Two out of the three (area teams from Montgomery) are going (to regionals), a good team was staying at home. This time of year, you focus on your seniors and the five seniors I have revitalized St. James softball when it was about to go away and they deserve all the credit for where it is now.
Hall took a few extra moments after the game to seek out Hannah Grace Griggs, Morgan Parish, Bella Bright, Makenzie Corley and Savannah Christian, a quintet of players that restored the Trojans as a legitimate playoff contender after several years as a struggling program.
“We were in a bad spot four or five years ago,” Hall said. “We were getting pounded by everybody. Any success St. James has in the future, we’re going to look back at those five who kept it going.”
On this particular day, however, there was no answer for Russell, who mixed pitches and speeds and only allowed an infield hit by Cam Greene in the fifth inning. After Greene was erased on a groundout by Bright, Bright was replaced by pinch runner Sydney Johnston, who was thrown out trying to steal second.
LAMP, meanwhile, earned a run in the second inning when Haley Herron’s bloop single dropped behind Griggs at second, scoring Peyton Cely, and Cely singled in the fifth and later scored an insurance run on a groundout.
ACA wins Area Tourney
LAMP earned the right to play in the South Regionals a few minutes earlier by beating St. James and would have to beat Alabama Christian twice to win the 4A Area 3 tournament.
Alabama Christian, meanwhile, was well rested and more than willing to take advantage of a drained group of Golden Tigers.
The result was predictable as Alabama Christian used the championship game for batting practice, scoring eight runs in the third inning and eight more in the fourth before the game mercifully ended on the mercy rule in a 16-0 rout on Thursday.
The biggest thing to come out of Thursday’s game is that ACA coach Chris Goodman will retire at the end of this season with a remarkable streak of 14 consecutive area tournament championships in his 15 years as a softball coach (there was no postseason play in 2020 because of coronavirus), a streak that obviously extends back even farther in predecessor Denise Ainsworth’s coaching career.
“We kept the streak alive,” Goodman said. “Two weeks ago, we didn’t even know if we would be playing today. We’re peaking at the right time. Hopefully, we’ll go make some noise in the South Regional and see if we can get to (the state tournament in) Oxford. It would be a good time to see a new state tournament.”
After Caitlin Russell threw a one-hitter against St. James, the LAMP ace was rested by head coach Anthony Norris, who turned to younger seldom-used pitchers Emily Daniels and Haley Herron.
“When you have to beat them twice, you have to have two stellar pitchers in the dugout and I don’t,” Norris said. “Right now, it’s more important for me to make sure she’s healthy for regionals. My young pitchers are extremely young. When you’ve only got one pitcher, you can’t really afford to get her hurt over a game that doesn’t mean anything.”
Every ACA starter had a hit, with several coming in the fourth against a worn-down Herron, who pitched to the final five batters in the third inning and through the lineup again in the fourth before Hayley Cassidy slammed a pitch well over the left field fence for a grand slam that ended the game on the 15-run mercy rule.
“Any time you can swing the bats in a game situation (it’s good) and the more we swing the better we’ll be, so it’s good to play,” Goodman said. “But our girls were not excited about it and (LAMP) just came off of qualifying (for the regionals). This game really means nothing other than the fact we’re area champions.”
Both teams advance to the South Regionals at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex next weekend in a double-elimination bracket that advances two teams to the state tournament. Both teams open play on Friday at 10:45 a.m., with LAMP facing W.S. Neal and ACA playing St. Michael. Win or lose, all four teams will be back in action on Friday afternoon at 4:45 p.m.
PCA wins 3A, Area 6 title
PRATTVILLE - The Panthers overcame a rare poor performance in a loss to Montgomery Catholic, storming back to sweep wins over Trinity and twice against the Lady Knights to earn the Class 3A, Area 6 Tourney on Thursday.
The Panthers (29-8) moves into the Regional in Tuscaloosa, joined by tourney runner-up Catholic.
After committing seven errors and allowing a total of 13 free passes in a 13-6 loss to Catholic in the tournament opener, PCA followed up with three consecutive double-digit wins. The Panthers topped Trinity, 16-3, with Jersee Carter, Riley Sweeney and Ariel Williams each getting three hits. Williams was the winning pitcher.
The Panthers followed with easy 17-2 and 11-1 wins over Catholic. Landyn McAnnally was the winning pitcher in both games, giving up just nine hits combined. She along with Chloe Hollon homered in the tournament finale. In the two wins over Catholic, Saniyah Weaver had five hits and seven RBIs. Carter had four hits and toted seven stolen bases. Williams had four hits and four RBIs.
Park Crossing, Sidney Lanier break numerous records in T’Birds Area Tourney win
Park Crossing and Sidney Lanier established a number of AHSAA records Wednesday in the Thunderbirds’ 46-45 softball victory over the Poets in the Class 6A, Area 3 tourney at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.
The game lasted nearly five hours.
The 91 runs surpassed the previous AHSAA fast-pitch record (89) for a game set by Keith (49) and Ellwood Christian (39) in 2019. The 45 runs by Lanier as the losing team also set s new AHSAA state record and ranks second nationally in the NFHS. The 91 runs also rank third all time according to the NFHS Record Book. The national record (95) was set by New Cyyama Valley and Camveria Coast Valley (CA) in 2011. East Machias Washington Academy (88) and Lubec (6) scored a combined 84 in a Massachusetts prep game in 1983.
A number of other AHSAA softball records were set including most walks by both teams (65) and most walks received by one team, Sidney Lanier had 42 and Park Crossing 23. The two teams combined for 29 hit-by-pitches with Park Crossing totaling 16 by nine girls. Latoria Cleare had three. The Poets had 13 by seven girls with Brooke Surles setting a state record with 4 and Jai Mister 3.