Lady Tigers want more
- Updated: March 12, 2016
Akles impresses as Cleburne County claims title over Collinsville in Cherokee Invitational; also, baseball results
By Shannon Fagan
Cherokee County Herald
CENTRE – Cleburne County softball coach Ron Ervin subscribes to Alabama football coach Nick Saban’s philosophy.
It’s all about the process.
“Every tournament they’re in, our goal is to play good and let the results take care of themselves,” Ervin said. “We were talking the other day, and I hadn’t really thought about it, but the kids were like ‘Coach, everything possible our program has done except for winning a state championship.’
“That’s their goal. They want to win it this year. They talk about it all the time. They talk about it in the weight room. They talk about it at practice. They seem like they’re hungry for it.”
Whether the Lady Tigers satisfy their hunger for a Class 4A state championship remains to be seen, but they took a step forward toward that goal on Saturday.
They went 4-0 on the day, capped off with a 5-1 victory over Class 2A Collinsville in the title game to win the Cherokee Invitational.
The Lady Tigers also beat third-place Pleasant Valley (5-1), Cedar Bluff (10-0) and Sand Rock (6-3).
In the championship game, freshman pitcher Kiara Akles tossed a two-hitter with 14 strikeouts. In 13 tournament innings, Akles gave up six hits, two earned runs and struck out 23. She also had three homers among her seven hits on the day.
Collinsville coach James Coker said Akles “threw the ball harder than anyone we’ve seen” this season.
“Her confidence started booming up some (as she went along),” Ervin said. “We just told her, ‘You’re going to have to put us on your back right here’, and she responded. She showed her teeth and threw the ball well. I was proud of her.”
Chelsea Parker had three hits for the Lady Tigers (14-2) in the title game and had eight hits in the tournament. Shay Henson had seven hits.
Shannon Fagan is sports editor of the Cherokee County Herald.
BASEBALL
Cherokee County 2, Piedmont 0
Cherokee County 5, Piedmont 0
Ragland 2, Ohatchee 0
Ragland 7, Weaver 6
Ohatchee 11, Weaver 2
Oxford 6, Cleburne County 0
Oxford 6, Brooks 1
HIGHLIGHTS: Noah Hollingsworth’s walk-off homer gave Ragland its 7-6 victory over Weaver and a sweep of the day. Coby Fuller also homered for Purple Devils and Tyrik Hall homered for Weaver. … Oxford goes to 4-0 in Choccolocco Park … Cherokee County’s 5-0 win completed a doubleheader sweep over Piedmont.
Would you like to see more? So would we. These were the games reported to East Alabama Sports Today on Saturday. Spring sports fans, encourage your coaches to report their results/game stats win or lose, home or road by texting 256-239-6715 or emailing to almusky@aol.com or musky@wrightmediacorp.com
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