PREP UPDATE: Hooper bombs Macon East in battle of defending champs; St. James baseball opens with area win
Shortstop Kylie Taylor fires a throw to first during the Macon East battle with Hooper Academy on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
HOPE HULL -- Can one player really make that much of a difference?
In a battle between defending AA state champion Hooper Academy and defending AAA state champion Macon East Academy, the Colts had that player. Macon East didn’t.
The Colts looked like a confident group with senior ace Victoria Hagemann in the circle. The Knights decided to leave ace Casey Stengell sitting on the bench and never resembled a championship-caliber team, committing five fielding errors and at least that many mental errors.
“It starts with pitching,” Macon East coach Glynn Lott said. “We never got in the game. We weren’t in it from the very first pitch of the game. We played well last night and then turned around ….
“And that’s been our issue. We can’t string together back-to-back games. We’ll play good one day and the next day we act like we’ve never seen a softball.”
The last Hooper batter of the game, Raylee Midkiff, drew a bases-loaded walk to force across Jade Taylor, ending the game on the 10-run mercy rule in favor of the Colts, 11-1, on Thursday at Hooper Academy.
And while Lott wondered why the team that swept a doubleheader from Lee-Scott a day earlier never showed up, Hooper Academy coach Elyse Grier was obviously pleased that her team avenged an early-season loss to the Knights in Thursday’s rematch.
“We had better pitch selection, we hit the ball better, top to bottom, one through nine,” Grier said. “I thought Victoria did a good job on the mound (and) we played defense well. We had one error the whole game and didn’t walk too many people and that’s what you’ve got to do. We hit gap shots today and that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Hagemann gave up a home run in the third inning to Miya Tatum and allowed two base runners on base in every inning, but only walked two batters (striking out three) and stayed out of trouble with good pitch selection and good defense backing her up.
“She’s that gamer,” Grier said. “The last couple of years, she’s been the one that you go to in situations like this. You want that confidence on the mound, that bulldog. She was a difference maker today for us.”
Tatum, the starter for Macon East, hit the first batter and gave up a triple to Hagemann, the second batter in the bottom of the first. KG Taylor had an RBI single and Jas Harris followed with a two-run single as the Colts quickly jumped out to a 5-0 lead.
After an unearned run by the Colts in the second inning, Macon East reliever Addison Little got out of trouble in the third with the help of a double play from third baseman Jamya Powell, then gave up five runs in the fourth as eight Hooper players batted without making an out.
Hagemann went 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI, Sydney Brown went 2 for 3 with two RBIs, Taylor went 2 for 3 with a double and Harris went 2 for 2 with two RBIs.
Other than Tatum’s home run, five other Macon East players each contributed a single. Stengell, who pitched 19 innings in three games earlier in the week, did leave the bench in the fourth inning and delivered a pinch-hit single.
And both teams will likely be in the hunt for a state championship in five weeks, Macon East (20-10-1) and Hooper (16-5) appeared to be going in different directions on Thursday.
“It’s lack of leadership,” Lott said. “It doesn’t matter (who’s in the other dugout), you still have to compete. We didn’t compete today. We made one play when we caught the ball at third and doubled them up. That was the only clean play we made anywhere today. We couldn’t hit cutoffs, we didn’t do anything right.”
Grier, obviously, had a different outlook.
“Right now, I feel like we’re on the upswing,” she said. “Just trying to get to that peak like we did last year. This time last year we were still down in the hole and had to peak last second, so I feel really good about being on the upswing, on the better side of things now.”
SOFTBALL
Prattville Christian 6, Alabama Christian 4
Alivia Messick scattered five hits and only gave up one earned run in a complete-game performance for the Panthers at Denise Ainsworth Field on Thursday.
Peyton Thrash was 3 for 4 with one RBI and Payson Hanson was 2 for 3 with one RBI for the Panthers.
PCA (7-3) returns home to play host to area rival Wilcox Central on Friday in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m.
BASEBALL
St. James 11, Montgomery Academy 7
Montgomery Academy opened 3A Area 6 play at home against St. James, but fell in an offensive shootout to the Trojans 11-7 at Bowman Field on Thursday.
Montgomery Academy starter Ware McCollum allowed six hits and seven runs, three earned, in five innings of work while striking out six and walking six.
Parker Cook and John Allen Jones each had a hit and two RBIs, Rick McBride had a hit and an RBI and Will Hardin and Reid McBride each added hits. Camp Shanahan also added two RBIs.
Montgomery Academy (7-8) and St. James resume the three-game series on Friday at St. James with a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. The first game counts in the area standings, while the second one serves as a tiebreaker.
BOYS TENNIS
Montgomery Academy 9, Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa 0
Montgomery Academy swept the singles and doubles matches on Thursday to complete a 9-0 sweep of Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa at Lagoon Park Tennis Center.
Ron Sharma and Ford Morano started the day off with a win at No. 2 doubles and the teams of John Alford and Jackson Brown at No. 1 and Anton Yang and Bo Johnston at No. 3 also won their doubles matches.
The Eagles swept singles with Alford, Brown, Edwin Wu, Morano, Yang and Duncan McInnes winning matches.
Montgomery Academy (6-2) will play host to Houston Academy on Monday at McLemore Tennis Center.
GIRLS TENNIS
Montgomery Academy 9, Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa 0
The Montgomery Academy girls swept singles and doubles matches, finishing off Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa 9-0 at Lagoon Park Tennis Center on Thursday.
In singles, Gabby Barrera defeated Kam Browne at No. 1, Mae Mae Voltz beat Zoe Fuller at No. 2, Lola Campbell beat Aly Lovelace at No. 3, Marianna Lassner defeated Ashley Chapman at No. 4, Mary Surhea White beat Kenzie Johnston at No. 5 and Alyssa Kaplan beat Addison Wyatt at No. 6.
The Eagles also won two additional singles matches by Lillian Cameron and Anna Powell
In doubles, Barrera-Voltz defeated Browne-Fuller at No. 1, Campbell-White beat Lovelace-Chapman at No. 2 and Lassner-Kaplan beat Johnston-Wyatt at No. 3 in three fiercely contested matches.
Sailor Vance teamed up with Powell to win an additional doubles match for the Eagles.
BOYS SOCCER
Montgomery Academy 10, Russell County 0
Ethan Yi scored three goals to lead the Eagles to a 10-0 win over area rival Russell County on Senior Night at McLemore Field on Thursday.
Montgomery Academy improved to 4-0 in area play and recognized the seniors before the game -- Win Berry, Holt Speir, John Allen Lachney and Luis Rubio.
Fittingly, Berry scored the game’s first goal and Lachney scored the final goal of the first half as the Eagles eased out to a 7-0 lead. Yi followed Berry’s goal with three goals and Brewer Welch and Tanner Bartigas added goals in the first half.
The second half ended early with three more goals from the Eagles, one from Welch, followed by two goals from Jacob Stubblefield.
Keeper Hampton Welch had another clean sheet with three saves during the match.
The Eagles will face Pike Road at home on Tuesday.