SPRING PREPS: MA loses historical tennis match to Vestavia; St. James baseball tops Catholic
MA’s Whit Davis and John Alford congratulate each other after doubles win in the Eagles match against Vestavia Hills. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Championship Wednesday was an eye-opening experience for Montgomery Academy.
It wasn’t your typical match on Wednesday at O’Connor Tennis Center as two programs representing 54 state championships gathered in the Capital City. Vestavia Hills, the defending Class 7A state champion in boys’ and girls’ tennis, defeated Montgomery Academy, playing for the first time in 7A as part of Competitive Balance Factor, by identical 7-2 scores in boys’ and girls’ action.
The Eagles followed a similar script, with No. 1 Whit Davis winning his singles match and teaming with John Alford to win his doubles match, while No. 1 Gabby Barrera won her singles match and teamed with Jenna Chandler to win her doubles match as well for the only points.
Davis, last year’s 6A runner-up, defeated Jake Anthony, who reached last year’s 7A quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-2. Davis then teamed with Alford for a rousing 6-4, 7-6 victory over the No. 1 doubles team of John Michael Yanosky and Kade Nelson.
“I’m feeling very positive about myself and my game,” Davis said. “They’re a good team and the fact I was able to win both singles and doubles made me feel really confident in my game.
“I feel like it was a good experience for our team because we don’t always play good teams like that. I hope what (my teammates) take from that is we have to work even harder to get to their level because they’re a good team.”
Vestavia Hills returned two state champions from last year’s team -- No. 4 Nelson, who defeated Jackson Brown 6-2, 6-1, and No. 5 Luke Bedwell, who is playing at No. 2 this year and defeated Charlie Hill 6-1, 7-6.
Both Montgomery Academy teams were forced to alter their lineup because of a school trip to Washington, D.C., that took some starters. The boys were without Ford Morano and his No. 5 position was filled by Edwin Yu. In addition to Bedwell and Nelson, Yanosky defeated Alford 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3; Brayden Helms defeated Wu 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5; and Andrew Pipkin defeated Anton Yang 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6.
The Eagles altered their doubles lineup as well, breaking up the championship team of Alford and Brown, swapping Hill for Alford at No. 1 (and therefore changing No. 2 as well) and inserting Yang with Ron Sharma at No. 3 in the absence of Morano.
“We were trying some different things out,” Montgomery Academy coach David Bethea said. “And we were missing our No. 5 player, but I take away a lot of good things from today.
“They’re obviously a really, really good team, but I don’t feel like we’re totally overwhelmed. I feel like there are a lot of good things to take away from this. Obviously, we’ve got to get better in some spots but I feel like we competed well.”
Barrera, last year’s 6A runner-up at No. 1, defeated Kenley Outzen, last year’s 7A champion at No. 5, 6-4, 6-1, then teamed with Chandler to beat Outzen and Lynley Threadcraft in an entertaining doubles match, 6-1, 6-2.
The Rebels won the other five singles matches, although MA’s Chandler at No. 2 and Mae Mae Voltz at No. 3 were competitive. The Eagles played without Lola Campbell at No. 5, causing some shuffling in their lineup as well.
Last year’s No. 6 state champion in 7A, Caroline Helms, defeated Chandler 6-4, 6-2, Threadcraft defeated Voltz 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3, Della Tarn beat Kareena Singh 6-2, 6-2 at No. 4; Nancy Chen beat Marianna Lassner 6-3, 6-3 at No. 5 and Wynn Strubel beat Anna Powell 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6.
“We were a little off balance on the back end of the lineup, but I certainly think this was a gettable match if we had put in a little extra work on the front end of our sets,” Montgomery Academy coach Maddy Ethington said. “They graduated a lot of their top lineup and so their No. 5 (Outzen) and 6 (Helms) are playing 1 and 2, so this is gettable for us. I hope we all learned that while some of the other section matches have been super difficult, we need to know how to respond when we’re being pushed. How do we meet adversity and how do we overcome it so we don’t just roll over and die?”
The Montgomery Academy girls (9-2), a 2A team based on enrollment, has 18 state championships, including a 4A-5A title in 2019. The Eagles were second in 6A in 2021 and third in 2022 and are competing in 7A for the first time this season as a result of Competitive Balance Factor. Vestavia Hills, a 7A team based on enrollment, won its 12th state championship last year.
The Montgomery Academy boys (10-4), a 2A team based on enrollment, has 17 state championships, including a 6A title in 2021. The Eagles were fourth in 6A in 2022 and are competing in 7A for the first time this season as a result of Competitive Balance Factor. Vestavia Hills, a 7A team based on enrollment, won its seventh state championship last year.
The top two teams from each of the four 7A sections advance to the state tournament on April 27-28 in Mobile, so it is likely the two teams will see each other again this season.
Montgomery Academy now takes off the next two weeks for spring break, resuming play with a 7A Section 2 match at Opelika on March 28.
St. James baseball beats Catholic in makeup game
Cooper Wright pitched a complete game and got offensive help from several sources, including a solo home run from Clint Houser, as the Trojans defeated Catholic 7-1 at St. James.
The game was originally scheduled for March 9 as part of the Jason Armstrong Memorial Baseball Tournament but was rained out and rescheduled for Wednesday.
Catholic took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Andrew Noell, who would come in to pitch for the Knights in the bottom of the third, led off with a single, advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches and scored on a two-out single by Kam Miller.
Noell was greeted by the Houser home run which tied the game at 1-1 after 3 innings.
Wright, who allowed base runners in every inning until a dominant seventh inning, struck out eight Knights on his way to a victory.
The Trojans took a lead they would not relinquish in the bottom of the fourth. Carter Carroll led off with a double. KJ Jackson followed up with an infield single and both runners advanced on a throwing error, allowing Carroll to score. Cole Anderson followed up with a double to knock in Jackson for a 3-1 lead.
St. James added a single run in the fifth on consecutive doubles by Carroll and Jackson, and sewed up the game with three runs in the bottom of the sixth. Tabor Offord drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, and Clint Shores drove in two with a single.
Wright snatched a vicious line drive to start the top of the seventh, snagged an infield pop fly for out two, and then struck out his eighth batter of the day for the third out and the victory which improves St. James to 3-0 against Capital City Conference teams. Noell picked up the loss, giving up the initial three Trojan scores.
Carroll had two doubles and two runs scored, and Houser scored twice.
St. James (9-4) has a home and home series with Pike Road, hosting the Patriots on Friday and traveling to Pike Road on Saturday.