Update: County tourney ppd. to Tuesday
- Updated: April 17, 2015
Alexandria completes winner’s bracket; action resumes Friday from 2 p.m. to completion
By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — Top-seeded White Plains advanced to the final four in the Winner’s Bracket of the rain-plagued Calhoun County Girls Softball Tournament Thursday by beating Saks 11-0 before another bout of rain suspended play for the day.
The Wildcats (21-5) join Piedmont (17-17), Oxford (20-11) and Alexandria (24-11) as the only unbeatens left in the tournament.
The tournament was scheduled to resume Friday at 2 p.m., but the rain forced a postponement before anybody got to the field. The event will resume Tuesday at 11 a.m.
In the three loser’s bracket games that beat the weather Thursday, JCA defeated Anniston, 11-2; Pleasant Valley rallied to beat Jacksonville, 7-6; and Wellborn slipped past Faith Christian, 4-0.
The schedule really favors the undefeated teams at this point. Teams in the Loser’s Bracket face a tough road to winning the title going into Friday.
Fourth-seeded Wellborn, which lost to Piedmont 4-3 in eight innings Tuesday night, has to win six straight games. So does Pleasant Valley. Ohatchee and Saks have to win seven in a row.
White Plains is the top seed and not many teams can match the intensity it has on each pitch. The Wildcats have quality at-bat after at-bat and certainly seem to be playing like a No. 1 seed; they want to defend their title from a year ago.
Alexandria has been on a roll as well as it seeks to defend the 5A state championship and add a county title along the way. Oxford also is playing well and getting some clutch hitting.
Piedmont is red-hot having played a brutal schedule to this point and is starting to find itself after spring break. The Bulldogs are playing great defense, getting solid pitching and getting timely hitting.
Here are Thursday’s results, with adjusted game times for Tuesday’s games (Field in parenthesis):
Winner’s Bracket
Game 8: No. 1 White Plains 11, Saks 0
Game 16: White Plains (21-5) vs. Piedmont (17-17), 11 a.m. (A)
Game 15: No. 2 Alexandria (24-11) vs. No. 3 Oxford (20-11), 11 a.m. (B)
Game 21: Game 16 winner vs. Game 15 winner, 12:30 p.m. (B)
Loser’s Bracket
Game 10: JCA 11, Anniston 2 (0-8 Anniston eliminated)
Game 14: Ohatchee (16-9) vs. JCA (4-7), 11 a.m. (C)
Game 11: Pleasant Valley 7, Jacksonville 6 (5-23 Jacksonville eliminated)
Game 12: Weaver (1-17) vs. Saks (8-15), 11 a.m. (D)
Game 13: Wellborn 4, Faith Christian 0 (6-11 Faith eliminated)
Game 17: Game 14 winner vs. Pleasant Valley (17-13), 12:30 p.m. (C)
Game 18: Game 12 winner vs. Wellborn (16-6), 12:30 p.m. (D)
Game 19: Game 16 loser vs. Game 17 winner, 2 p.m. (D)
Game 20: Game 18 winner vs. Game 15 loser, 2 p.m. (D)
Game 22: Game 19 winner vs. Game 20 winner, 3:30 p.m. (D)
Game 23: Game 21 loser vs. Game 22 winner, 5 p.m. (B)
County Championship game, 6:30 p.m. (8 p.m., if necessary) (B)
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