SPRING ROUNDUP: Trinity sweeps MA behind Ellis no hitter; MA wins 'Race Against Hunger' meet
Coleman Ellis pitched a no hitter in Trinity’s sweep of Montgomery Academy. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
Montgomery Academy ace Britton Kohn held Trinity to a pair of hits on Thursday but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles fell 2-1 in the area opener.
They never recovered as a determined Trinity team swept a doubleheader on Friday at MA’s Bowman Field, using a no-hitter from Coleman Ellis and a one-hitter from Grayson Ashe in a pair of mercy-rule games, 12-2 and 11-1.
“I’m not taking anything away from Coleman, he pitched lights out,” Montgomery Academy coach Stephen Vosel said. “He spotted up his fastball, kept it down at the knees, low in the zone and threw his breaking ball for a strike, kept us off balance. But I didn’t like our approaches, thought we watched too many fastballs and didn’t have many barrels today.
“We boot the ball around, lose focus and carry it over to the plate and you can’t do that. You make a mistake, how are you going to react after that? I think we reacted the way we shouldn’t.”
Trinity improved to 2-0 in area play, while Montgomery Academy dropped to 0-2 heading into next week’s area matchup with Catholic.
“It’s always great to get started (2-0) in the area, but that’s also the reason we play the teams we play, to see great pitching,” Trinity coach Ken Whittle said. “Britton Kohn pitched really well, really well, but we had seen that because we’ve faced good pitching and we knew we were going to be in a battle. That’s why we play our schedule.”
The Wildcats jumped on Montgomery Academy early as William Roberson singled, Ashe followed with an RBI single, Walton Cherry reached base on an error and Parker Hughes and Coleman Stanley added RBI singles for a 3-0 lead.
Montgomery Academy responded with two runs in the bottom of the first as Harris Gowan was hit by a pitch and Rick McBride drew a walk. Kohn then hit a grounder to third that resulted in an error, scoring Gowan, and McBride scored on a sacrifice fly.
But there would be no more opportunities for MA as Ellis retired the final 12 batters in order. Kohn reached base on an error in the fourth but was quickly erased trying to steal second.
Trinity, meanwhile, manufactured a run in both the second and third innings, added an unearned run in the fourth and six unearned runs in the fifth as the Eagles managed just one hit and one run in the final nine innings of the three-game series.
“I just told our guys that’s inexcusable,” Vosel said. “We play (Thursday) and outhit them 6-2 and have our guy throw a two hitter, he’s lights out. We had every chance to win that game and there’s no reason for us to come and do what we did (today).”
William Roberson went 3 for 4 in the first game and 4 for 6 in the doubleheader, while Ashe went 3 for 4 and drove in four runs in the first game and Easterling went 3 for 4 and drove in two runs in the opener. Preston Berry went 3 for 6 with two RBIs in the two games and Hughes went 3 for 6 with two RBIs in the doubleheader.
Trinity (10-7-1) plays host to Catholic in an area series on Thursday before closing out with a doubleheader at Catholic on Friday. Montgomery Academy (6-9-1) plays host to Prattville Christian Academy in an area series on Thursday before closing out with a doubleheader at PCA on Friday.
BOYS SOCCER
Montgomery Academy 4, Auburn 1
The Eagles broke a 1-1 tie with a pair of first-half goals then closed out the game with an Alex Kohn goal to defeat 7A Auburn 4-1 on Saturday at Montgomery Academy.
The match started very intense with both sides trying to control the ball and take the first action. MA played a high pressing system pretty much the entire half, scoring its first goal on a free kick in the midfield as Alex Kohn assisted Ruston Bassett. A few minutes later, Auburn tied the game on a fast counter attack.
However, MA insisted on controlling the game and got a PK call after, which Kohn scored. The third goal came in the last minute of the first half as Kohn played the ball to the box and Bobby Eskridge finished with a heading.
In the second half, both teams slowed the game and MA took advantage with a fourth goal as Bassett passed through three Auburn players and gave the ball to Kohn, who finished with a nice shot on goal.
Auburn won the junior varsity match, defeating Montgomery Academy 4-0.
BOYS TENNIS
Spain Park 7, Montgomery Academy 2
Whit Davis won his singles match and teamed up with Hamilton Chapman to win a doubles match, but those were the only points for the Eagles in a 7-2 loss to Class 7A powerhouse Spain Park on Saturday at Lagoon Park.
Montgomery Academy returns to action on Monday against LAMP at McLemore Tennis Center for Senior Recognition Day.
GIRLS TENNIS
Montgomery Academy 7, Spain Park 2
The Eagles bounced back from their first defeat of the season with a strong performance against Class 7A Spain Park on Saturday at Lagoon Park.
Winning singles for the Eagles were Gabby Barrera at No. 1, Jenna Chandler at No. 2, Mae Mae Voltz at No. 3 and MaryLee Kelso at No. 6.
Montgomery Academy swept the doubles competition as Chandler-Voltz at No. 1, Barrera-Julia Williams at No. 2 and Cate Peeples-Kelso at No. 3 all won.
Montgomery Academy closes out the regular season with matches against Trinity on Tuesday and Brookstone Academy the following Monday before competing in the sectional tournament later that week.
Mountain Brook 8, Montgomery Academy 1
MOUNTAIN BROOK -- Gabby Barrera won her singles match but the Eagles were swept in the remaining matches by Mountain Brook as the three-time defending Class 7A state champion Spartans beat the defending 4A-5A state champion Eagles on Friday.
Both teams are in 6A this season and the Spartans handed Montgomery Academy (8-1) its first loss of the season as Emma Karcher defeated Jenna Chandler at No. 2, Mae Mae Lacey defeated Mae Mae Voltz at No. 3, Kate Jeffcoat defeated McRae Freeman at No. 4, Lillian Still defeated Ann Cobern Chapman at No. 5 and Mary Neal Polk defated Kareena Singh at No. 6.
In doubles, Pippa Roy-Karcher beat Chandler-Voltz at No. 1, Jeffcoat-Ann Coleman beat Barrera-Freeman at No. 2 and Annie Lacey-Rosemary Cooper beat Cate Peeples-MaryLee Kelso at No. 3.
Track and Field
MA wins “Race Against Hunger” meet
Montgomery Academy hosted teams from throughout the River Region on Saturday to run its annual “Race Against Hunger” meet. This was not only a track and field meet but also the kickoff for our canned food drive week benefiting the Montgomery Area Food Bank.
The Montgomery Academy girls won the meet with a score of 145 and won by a margin of 42 points. The MA boys placed second in the meet behind Wetumpka High School.
In the throwing events, the MA girls dominated with Isabella Johnson winning the discus and shot put, Brie McClendon taking second place in the shot and third in javelin, Killian White placing second in discus and Laine Martin placing fifth in discus.
Johnson, a freshman, set a school record in discus with a throw of 90 feet, one inch.
In the boys’ throwing events, Phipps Fiore won the javelin, Hudson Whitt placed third in javelin, Jackson Kelly was fourth in discus and fifth in shot put, Bryant McClendon was sixth in shot and Luke Jordan was eighth in discus.
In the jumps, Avery Arden Pemberton won girls’ pole vault and placed fourth in the triple jump while Cooper Horn won the boys’ pole vault. Behind Pemberton in second place was Holden Habermacher. Jai Ivy Raines and Anna Belle Brown tied for third in high jump, Chance Wilson was fourth in high jump and also placed seventh in long jump.
In the sprints, Cyndney Pepple was eighth in the 100-meter dash, Rick McBride was seventh in the 200-meter dash and Eli Jernigan was third in the 400-meter dash, followed by John Poundstone in eighth place. Anna Perry won the 300-meter hurdles with a time of 53.46 while Virginia Anderson took fifth. In the boys 300-meter hurdles, Cooper Horn was fifth and John Poundstone eighth
Mattie Freeman won the 800-meter run with a time of 2:43 and Laura Stanton Strickler finished in eighth place. In the 1600-meter run, Virginia Anderson was seventh and Camp Jernigan was third. In the 3200-meter run, Elizabeth Ray was fourth and Ben Jordan was third.
In the boys’ relays, MA was third in the 4x100-meter while the 4x800-meter ‘A’ team took third and the 4x800-meter ‘B’ team was fifth. In the girls’ relays, the 4x100-meter ‘A’ was second while the B team was sixth. The 4x800-meter ‘A’ won the event, while the ‘B’ team placed third.
Montgomery Academy returns to action on Friday at the Troy Invitational hosted by Charles Henderson.
Anyone wishing to donate to the canned food drive to benefit the Montgomery Area Food Bank, there will be drop off locations on our upper school campus on Vaughn Road this week.