Into the finals
- Updated: April 8, 2021
Alexandria wins a pair of close games to reach finals of Calhoun County Tournament; weather could impact championship round
CALHOUN COUNTY SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT
Thursday’s games
(Woodland Park)
No. 6 Weaver 2, No. 9 Saks 0
No. 4 Piedmont 10, No. 10 Wellborn 0
No. 8 Ohatchee 11, No. 11 JCA 5
No. 1 Alexandria 4, No. 5 White Plains 1
No. 2 Pleasant Valley 5, No. 3 Oxford 2
No. 7 Jacksonville 9, Weaver 6
Piedmont 10, Ohatchee 2
Alexandria 5, Pleasant Valley 4
White Plains 6, Jacksonville 2
Piedmont 11, Oxford 0
Friday’s games
(Jacksonville State)
White Plains vs. Piedmont, 4:30 p.m.
White Plains-Piedmont winner vs. Pleasant Valley, 6 p.m.
Championship game vs. Alexandria, 7:30 p.m. (9 p.m., if necessary)
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
Close games are intense and nerve-wracking. Mastering them – a good word this week, don’t you think – is a key element for the Alexandria softball team as it goes forward through the most important stretch of its season.
The Lady Cubs won two close games in the Calhoun County Softball Tournament Thursday night, including a 5-4 nail-biter over Pleasant Valley to reach the tournament championship game, tentatively scheduled for Friday night at Jacksonville State. They beat White Plains in their first game of the day, 4-1.
“We’ve needed these close games,” Alexandria coach Brian Hess said. “It’s getting close to playoff time and to see how we play in those pressure situations is kind of defining of your team. We’re hoping this is kind of building towards the end of the season.”
In anticipation of stormy weather entering the area Friday, the coaches of the four remaining teams – top-seeded Alexandria, No. 2 Pleasant Valley, No. 4 Piedmont and No. 5 White Plains – huddled with tournament director Jody Whaley at the conclusion of Thursday’s games to hash out the remaining tournament schedule.
Plan A is to play the games as scheduled Friday at JSU starting at 4:30 p.m., but as he watches the weather Whaley could wave off the day as early as 1 p.m.
Plan B calls for the games to be moved to Saturday. Given the forecast, Whaley would “be surprised” if they could play Saturday, but he left that possibility on the table. Piedmont and White Plains both have proms scheduled that night.
Plan C would put the Final Four on hold until the teams get through their area schedule and play April 29 at JSU starting at 4 p.m.
“I like to play a lot,” Alexandria pitcher Rylee Gattis said. “I don’t want to be in the loser’s bracket, but if we were, I like to play, but I’m OK with having to wait.”
The Lady Cubs reached the finals by scoring when they needed to and getting a strong effort from Gattis in the circle.
They broke a 1-1 tie against White Plains with three runs in their last bats, capped by Addie Jennings’ two-run double. Then in the Pleasant Valley game they erased a 2-1 deficit with four runs in the bottom of the second and Gattis put down the heart of the Lady Raiders’ order in fifth inning to nail down the win.
Gattis gave up three hits and struck out five in the White Plains game and allowed five hits and struck out seven against PV. She gave up three hits and struck out nine in their tournament opener Tuesday against Ohatchee.
“Rylee spun the ball really, really well tonight,” Hess said. “It’s probably been the best couple games she’s had in the last week or so.”
Gattis fell behind 2-1 after giving up a leadoff homer to Bailey Harris and an RBI double to Lily Henry in the second inning, but her teammates rallied for four in the bottom of the inning to give her back the lead for good.
Ashley Phillips drove home the tying run on a ball she rolled through both left side infielders. Chloe Gattis followed with a two-run triple she dropped between three fielders just inside the line in short right field and she scored on Rylee’s RBI single.
“Anything that any of my teammates do makes me so excited, especially my twin sister, it’s like an extra excitement,” Rylee said. “We learned a (Sanskrit) word on my travel team, mudita. It means enjoying the success of others, and I like really take that to heart to try to do that. I want them to be excited for me so I really, really try and be overexcited for my teammates.
“A pitcher does not stand alone. A pitcher cannot do it without anybody else behind her.”
Perhaps the most impressive run of the night belonged to Piedmont. The Lady Bulldogs stayed alive with three wins, capped by the first one coach Rachel Smith can recall over Oxford.
The Lady Bulldogs went through No. 10 Wellborn, No. 8 Ohatchee and the Lady Jackets by a combined score of 31-2, scoring at least 10 runs in each game. They collected 28 hits in the three games (batting .431) and their pitchers allowed only one earned run with 10 strikeouts, two walks and two shutouts (by Emma Todd and Emily Farmer).
Z’Hayla Walker was their big hitter on the night. She went 5-for-6 with three doubles and a homer. Savannah Smith went 5-for-10 with five RBIs and Jenna Calvert went 5-for-9.
“We hit the ball really well,” Rachel Smith said. “We haven’t really had a chance to have a good, long practice where we went over executing plays and all of that good stuff until yesterday. We kind of went over everything top to bottom, situational hitting, executing on bunts, executing everything we wanted to do on the base paths. I think we really needed that.
“I wanted our girls to go out and concentrate and do the things that we do well. Not necessarily focus on who it was we were playing, but do the things that we do well and that I know we can do well and we were able to do that.”
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