SPORTS BRIEFS: Biscuits two wins away from playoffs; Catholic wins in flag football; Baud added to Bama softball staff

COMBINED REPORTS

BILOXI, Miss. - The Montgomery Biscuits (77-57) needed a victory on Wednesday night at MGM Park to hold on the South Division lead.

Mission accomplished. Montgomery topped the Biloxi Shuckers (73-60),4-2, to push the lead to a game-and-a-half over the Shuckers with four games left to play.

A win in two games will send the Biscuits back to the playoffs for an eighth straight season. 

The first five innings of play featured a pitching duel between Patrick Wicklander (5-2) held Biloxi to two hits and two walks to pick up the win.

In the sixth the Biscuits scored first when Tristan Peters hit a two-run home run to right-center field, followed by an RBI-single from Bob Seymour three at-bats later.

Wicklander surrendered a solo-home run to Brock Wilken in the next frame, but the Biscuits still held a 3-1 lead. 

After allowing back-to-back singles to start the eighth, Ryan Middendorf allowed Junior Caminero to score on a fielding error, pushing the Biscuits lead to 4-1.

The Shuckers cut the lead to 4-2 on an Ethan Murray RBI-double to right field.

Enmanuel Mejia recorded the save. Montgomery has won 24 of its last 29 games and 10 of the last 11.

The series continues Thursday at 6:35 p.m. with the Biscuits’ Ian Seymour facing Aaron Ashby for Biloxi.

FLAG FOOTBALL

Catholic 32, Russell County 0

Jehle Dickson threw one touchdown pass and ran for another as the Knights posted their second consecutive shutout with a 32-0 win over Russell County on Tuesday.

Ann Cobb ran for a touchdown and caught a pass from Dickson for another. Hayden Fitts was also on the receiving end of a touchdown pass.

Anna Russo also had a touchdown pass in the win, throwing to Rylee Wilcoxson.

Haley Ishman had a pair of interceptions to preserve the shutout, while Jamie McGuire had multiple sacks, including one for a safety.

Catholic (2-0) remains home to play Sidney Lanier next Tuesday at 5 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL

Prattville Christian 3, Alabama Christian 1

PRATTVILLE -- Prattville Christian rebounded from a third-set loss to defeat Alabama Christian in the fourth set in the PCA gym in the 3A Area 6 opener on Tuesday.

The Panthers won the first two sets, 25-16 and 25-23, before losing the third 14-25 and rebounding to win the fourth, 25-9.

For PCA, Baylee Rogers had 26 assists, three kills, eight digs and an ace, Emma Cate Carter had eight kills, a block, 11 digs and an ace, Leah Cate Wilson had 11 kills and a pair of digs, Paysley Bayer had six kills, a block and two digs and Baileigh Seale had 10 digs, four assists, a kill and an ace. Jenna McClendon had four kills and two digs, Natalee Wheeler had seven digs and a pair of assists, Aiden Williams had 10 digs, Brylee Byrd had 11 digs, Maren Diefenderfer had two kills, Peyton Woodfin had a kill, Dakotah Zimbelman had two digs and Morgan Fowler had two digs and an ace.

PCA (9-8) will play host to Montgomery Academy on Thursday before playing in a tournament in Eclectic on Saturday.

Catholic 3, Brew Tech 1

Catholic dropped the opening set to the Rams, but rebounded to win the next three and defeat Brew Tech on Tuesday in the Brew Tech gym, 23-25, 25-16, 25-16 and 25-18.

Zaria Rudolph had five kills, five blocks, five aces and nine digs, Mally Barranco had 13 digs and Maria Schwarz had 36 assists.

Catholic (13-3) remains on the road, playing at Auburn on Thursday and at St. James on Monday.

Edgewood Academy 3, Macon East Academy 0

CECIL -- The Wildcats swept the best-of-five series from the Knights, winning 25-10, 25-15 and 25-19 in the Macon East gym on Tuesday.

Lindsey Brown had 10 kills, 13 assists, seven digs and five aces, Avery White had six kills, a pair of aces and nine assists, Madison Martin had six kills, two aces and three blocks and Olivia Carlin had four aces and three digs.

Edgewood improved to 5-0 in AA Region 1 play with the win and will travel to Lowndes Academy on Monday.

St. James 3, Russell County 0

SEALE -- The Trojans opened the week of 6A Area 4 play with a sweep of Russell County on Tuesday, winning 25-4, 25-8 and 25-8 to improve to 3-0 in area play.

“We are now in the heart of area play,” St. James coach Karen Lee said. “We try to learn from every set and every match we play so that we can continue to get better as we go throughout the season.  The girls played well in this area matchup and executed our game plan.”

For the Trojans, Kaylin Corley had 11 kills, an ace, an assist and eight digs, Tatiana Shuford had 22 assists, three aces, a block, a kill and eight digs and Ava Card had eight kills, four aces, an assist and nine digs. Brea Ledford had an ace, a kill and two digs, Arden Green had a block and six assists, Alex Mendel had four kills, a block and an assist, Olive Maddox had a pair of kills, Charleigh Kate Harper had three kills and a block, Sana Shuford had two aces, four kills, two blocks and two digs and Sydney Johnston had an ace and seven digs.

St. James (17-3) will travel to Pike Road on Thursday for another area match at 6:30 pm.  

Hooper Academy 3, Lowndes Academy 1

HOPE HULL -- Grace Seale and Kaylee Midkiff combined for 30 kills to lead the Colts to a four-set win over the Rebels at Darrell Self Gym on Tuesday.

Seale had 17 kills, a pair of blocks and nine digs, while Midkiff had 13 kills, four blocks and a dig. Libby Bressler had 33 assists, a pair of aces, a kill and two digs, Annie Bressler had four kills, four blocks, 14 digs and three aces, KG Taylor had three kills, two aces, eight digs and an assist, Victoria Hagemann had six kills and a block and Henlee Garvin had eight digs, an ace and a block.

Hooper Academy (8-1) travels to Chambers for a AAA Region 1 match on Thursday.

Edgewood 3, Lakeside School 0

ELMORE -- The Wildcats remained unbeaten after sweeping the Chiefs 25-6, 25-8 and 25-11 in a match in the Edgewood gym on Monday.

Edgewood improved to 4-0 in AA Region 1 play and will play at Macon East in another region match on Tuesday.

For the Wildcats, Lindsey Brown had nine aces, seven kills and 10 assists, Madison Martin had four kills, Harlie Barrett had six assists, Haidyn Cotterill had six aces, Baylie Barrett had four kills and Avey Rambo had three kills and a pair of aces.

CROSS COUNTRY

Lakeside girls win cross country meet hosted by Escambia

The Lakeside girls cross country team took first place in a cross country meet hosted by Escambia Academy on Thursday.

Chloe Helms won the event with a time of 21:27.54 and three teammates finished in the top 11 to help the Chiefs win the event. Addy Helms was fifth with a time of 27:20.23 and Anna Peak was sixth after crossing the finish line in 28:09.48. Rylee Poss placed 11th with a time of 31:13.94, Maggie Moore was 15th with a time of 33:26.59 and Lindsey Beaversset a personal record and finished 20th with a time of 38:59.36.

Carter Bonner won the youth division with a time of 8:14.33.

COLLEGE SOFTBALL

Alabama softball alum, 2012 national champion and three-time All-American Kayla Braud will rejoin the Crimson Tide as its newest assistant coach, head coach Patrick Murphy announced this week.

Braud was a three-time NFCA All-American in her four seasons with the Tide from 2010-13. In 2012, she earned First Team All-SEC and Women’s College World Series All-Tournament honors as she helped lead the Crimson Tide to its first ever national championship. 

Since graduating from The Capstone, she has served as a softball TV analyst with ESPN and was part of the Seattle Mariners broadcast team with ROOT Sports.