Regional softball
- Updated: May 7, 2025
Alexandria chews on magic gum and a state-tournament berth after dramatic victory over West Limestone. Oxford, Spring Garden and Jacksonville Christian get to second day. (Photo gallery, will be updated with details)
Softball regionals
EAST REGIONAL
At Sand Mountain Park, Albertville
Class 1A
WEDNESDAY, May 7
Skyline, 9, Appalachian 2
Spring Garden 9, Addison 2
Meek 15, Jacksonville Christian 2
Ider 10, Victory Christian 0
Winners’ bracket
Spring Garden 5, Skyline 1
Ider 13, Meek 1
Elimination bracket
Appalachian vs. Addison, 1:45 p.m.
Jacksonville Christian 8, Victory Christian 6
THURSDAY, May 8
Elimination bracket
Meek vs. Appalachian, 9 a.m.
Skyline vs. Jacksonville Christian, 9 a.m.
Winners’ bracket final
Spring Garden vs. Ider, 12:15 p.m.
Elimination bracket, 12:15 p.m.
Final elimination game, 1:45 p.m.
Class 2A
MONDAY, May 5
West End-Walnut Grove 11, Falkville 2
Pleasant Valley 13, North Sand Mountain 3
Pisgah 6, Sand Rock 3
Cleveland 9, Decatur Heritage 6
Winners’ bracket
Pleasant Valley 6, West End 3
Pisgah 5, Cleveland 1
Elimination bracket
North Sand Mountain 10, Falkville 1
Sand Rock 10, Decatur Heritage 6
TUESDAY, May 6
Winners’ bracket final
Pisgah 9, Pleasant Valley 4
Elimination bracket
North Sand Mountain 6, Cleveland 5
West End 8, Sand Rock 4
West End 15, North Sand Mountain 1
Final elimination game
West End 8, Pleasant Valley 1
Class 3A
MONDAY, May 5
Fyffe 21, Randolph County 16
Ohatchee 11, Hanceville 2
Locust Fork 9, Glencoe 7
Collinsville 12, Weaver 5
Winners’ bracket
Fyffe 6, Ohatchee 2
Locust Fork 5, Collinsville 1
Elimination bracket
Randolph County 12, Hanceville 11
Weaver 4, Glencoe 3
TUESDAY, May 6
Winners’ bracket final
Locust Fork 9, Fyffe 2
Elimination bracket
Randolph County 10, Collinsville 7
Ohatchee 10, Weaver 4
Elimination bracket
Randolph County 5, Ohatchee 4
Final elimination game
Randolph County 6, Fyffe 5
Class 4A
TUESDAY, May 6
Ashville 5, Westminster Christian 4
Plainview 7, Alexandria 4
West Limestone 8, Etowah 6
Madison County 1, White Plains 0
Elimination bracket
Alexandria 13, Westminster Christian 0
Etowah 4, White Plains 3
Winners’ bracket
Plainview 11, Ashville 1
West Limestone 5, Madison County 3
WEDNESDAY, May 7
Winners’ bracket final
Plainview 6, West Limestone, 4
Elimination bracket
Alexandria 12, Madison County 7
Etowah 4, Ashville 0
Elimination game
Alexandria 8, Etowah 1
Final elimination game
Alexandria 2, West Limestone 1
Class 5A
MONDAY, May 5
Northside 5, Lincoln 4
Moody 13, Corner 6
St. Clair County 16, John Carroll Catholic 6
Springville 15, Leeds 5
Winners’ bracket
Moody 7, Northside 0
Springville 9, St. Clair County 4
Elimination bracket
Corner 8, Lincoln 7
Leeds 9, John Carroll Catholic 5
TUESDAY, May 6
Winners’ bracket final
Moody 5, Springville 1
Elimination bracket
St. Clair County 13, Corner 11
Northside 5, Leeds 0
Elimination bracket
Northside 4, St. Clair County 2
Final elimination game
Springville 5, Northside 3
Class 6A
WEDNESDAY, May 7
Oxford 14, Homewood 2
Mountain Brook 13, Clay-Chalkville 3
Pell City 17, Minor 1
Gardendale 16, Woodlawn 0
Elimination bracket
Homewood 19, Clay-Chalkville 0
Woodlawn 12, Minor 2
Winners’ bracket
Oxford 5, Mountain Brook 3
Pell City 21, Gardendale 8
THURSDAY, May 8
Winners’ bracket final
Oxford vs. Pell Ciity,. 9 a.m.
Elimination bracket
Homewood vs. Gardendale, 9 a.m.
Mountain Brook vs. Woodlawn, 9 a.m.
Elimination bracket, 12:15 p.m.
Final elimination game, 1:45 p.m.
CENTRAL REGIONAL
At Lagoon Park, Montgomery
Class 1A
WEDNESDAY, May 7
University Charter 6, Billingsley 2
Fayetteville 6, Autauga Academy 2
Maplesville 17, Keith 2
Woodland 15,. Autaugaville 0
Elimination bracket
Autauga Academy 5, Billingsley 4
Autaugaville 23, Keith 5
Winners’ bracket
Fayetteville 11, University Charter 1
Maplesville 6, Woodland 2
THURSDAY, May 8
Winners’ bracket final
Fayetteville vs. Maplesville,. 12;15 p.m.
Elimination bracket
Woodland vs. Autauga Academy, 9 a.m.
University Charter vs. Autaugaville, 9 a.m.
Elimination bracket, 10:45 a.m.
Final elimination game, 1:45 p.m.
Class 2A
MONDAY, May 5
Isabella 23, Highland Home 3
Ranburne 7, Reeltown 6
Horseshoe Bend 15, Central-Hayneville 0
Southeastern 15, Loachapoka 0
Winners’ bracket
Isabella 7, Ranburne 5
Horseshoe Bend 2, Southeastern 1
Elimination bracket
Reeltown 17, Highland Home 0
Loachapoka 16, Central-Hayneville 6
TUESDAY, May 6
Winners’ bracket final
Horseshoe Bend 6, Isabella 2
Elimination bracket
Southeastern 8, Reeltown 2
Ranburne 16, Loachapoka 0
Ranburne 4, Southeastern 3
Final elimination game
Isabella 7, Ranburne 3
Class 4A
TUESDAY, May 6
Prattville Christian 15, Pleasant Grove 0
American Christian 11, Handley 0
Tallassee 9, Oak Grove 8
West Blocton 14, Munford 3
Elimination bracket
Handley 15, Pleasant Grove 1
Munford 18, Oak Grove 3
Winners’ bracket
American Christian 5, Prattville Christian 4
West Blocton 13, Tallassee 1
WEDNESDAY, May 7
Winners’ bracket final
American Christian 4, West Blocton 0
Elimination bracket
Handley 4, Tallassee 3
Prattville Christian 6, Munford 1
Elimination bracket
Prattville Christian 9, Handley 0
Final elimination game
West Blocton vs. Prattville Christian, 5 p.m.
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
ALBERTVILLE — Allyssa Hunt needed a minute to remember the brand and, especially, the flavor of the lucky gum she chewed for at least 10 hours Wednesday.
“It is the blue kind, in the little paper wrapper,” a jubilant Hunt said as she and Alexandria teammates basked in the glow of earning their latest state-tournament berth. “I don’t know. Spearmint, maybe?
“Blue ice. That’s what it is.”
Blue was an operative color for the otherwise black-and-orange Valley Cubs, and ice in pitcher Pressley Slation’s veins got Alexandria through three wins Wednesday in the East Regional at Sand Mountain Park.
Playing in the elimination bracket after a first-round loss to eventual Class 4A regional champion Plainview, Alexandria (39-9-3) beat Madison County 12-7, Etowah 8-1 and West Limestone 2-1 in an epic pitching battle between Slaton and Katherine Kyke.
The Valley Cubs advanced to next week’s state tournament, which starts Monday at Oxford’s Choccolocco Park. They will play Curry on Wednesday at 10:45 a.m.
Alexandria’s state-tournament berth marked the climactic moment in a good day for area teams in Albertville.
— Oxford played into Thursday’s Class 6A winners bracket final against area rival Pell City by beating Homewood 14-2 and Mountain Brook 5-3.
— Spring Garden played its way into the Class 1A winners’ bracket final against Ider, beating Addison 9-2 and Skyline 5-1.
— Jacksonville Christian opened with a 15-2 loss to Meek but beat Victory Christian 8-6 to reach the second day of regional, in the Class 1A elimination bracket. The Thunder will play Skyline on Thursday.
Forgive Hunt for forgetting the flavor of her gum. Alexandria came into the day needing to last much longer.
Once the winning started, it’s the chewing that mattered. She went to lengths to preserve her gum.
“I’ve been on a gum-chewing thing recently, and I put this piece of gum that I have in my mouth right now in my mouth at about 10:30 this morning,” she said at roughly 8:30 p.m. “We won the first one, and it was a huge game, so I put it in a contact case, because my contact ripped this morning, and my parents had to save that.
“So, I put it in my mouth, and we used it for the second game and won it, so I saved it for the third, and then here we are, and we’re going to state.”
The gum’s blue color fit, because a blue approach led to what proved to be the winning run against West Limestone.
Kaden Pritchett hit a bouncer down the middle with runners on first and second base with two outs in the top of the sixth inning. West Limestone made a diving stop and appeared to fall across the second-base bag for the would-be force out, but the field umpire said she bobbled the ball before touching the bag.
Boo Boo Bright got to second base before Ella Yarbrough could secure the ball. Khloe England, a pinch runner who started the sequence on second base, kept running and scored.
“The girl (Kyle) throwing upper 60s, we’re not used to seeing that,” Alexandria coach Brian Hess said. “I told them, ‘If we can roll something over and get something, I said ‘anything moving,’,I got crazy aggressive. …
“I told them. We’ve got four different colors. This is a game where we stay in blue the whole time. We’re aggressive and making them make mistakes. If it costs us, it costs us.”
The rest came down to the ice in Slaton’s veins.
She could be forgiven for losing her cool after Lilly Bethune blasted a solo home to lead off the bottom of the first inning. Bethune’s shot flew lights-high over the left-field corner and landed well beyond the fence.
Slaton shrugged it off. She went on to finish off a four-hitter with nine strikeouts and three walks in 121 pitches. Kyle allowed five hits and seven walks with 10 strikeouts in 138 pitches.
“We work on stuff like that, and we have great hitters on our team,” Slaton said. “At practice, we throw live on them all the time. It’s not anything new to get one hit off of you in practice, so being able to have those situations in your head, you just know how to come back from them.”
Class 6A
OXFORD WINS TWO: The young Yellow Jackets (18-16) hope to have something in common with recent graduates … a regional title.
Oxford beat Homewood 14-2 and Mountain Brook 5-3 on Wednesday. That got the Yellow Jackets to Thursday’s 9 a.m. winners’ bracket final against area rival Pell City.
A win gives Oxford seeks third consecutive regional title and clinches a state-tournament berth. A loss forces Oxford to chase a state berth through the elimination bracket.
Oxford is 0-4 against Pell City this season, but the last three games were low-scoring games.
“I’m very proud of a team effort today,’ Oxford coach Wendy McKibbin said. “It took all of us, from our defense, to our pitching, to our outfield, to our hitting.
“We came out this morning on fire, and we played a good Mountain Brook team today. Early in the season, we probably would’ve struggled with the pressure. We’ve come a long way from January until now with a young team, only one returning player that [layed last year, so I couldn’t be much prouder of a bunch of girls.”
Jayla Jackson pitched a complete game against Mountain Brook, allowing five hits with six strikeouts.
Madison Murphy went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and two RBIs, and Charleigh Trotter went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Emma Tims-Becerra, Oxford’s lone experienced returnee this season, went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Class 1A
SPRING GARDEN WINS TWO: The Panthers (18-11-2) downed Addison 9-2 and multisport postseason rival Skyline 5-1 to reach Thursday’s winners’ bracket final against Ider.
Avery Steward spread out six hits with seven strikeouts against Skyline, and Olivia Law went 2-for-2 with a home run, three runs and two RBIs. Layla Ingram went 2-for-4 with two RBIs, and Rylie Ham had a triple and an RBI.
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN: The Thunder matched its deepest ever postseason run, reaching the second day of regional. Another win makes two at regional for the first time in JCA history.
The Thunder walked it off in its elimination game with Victory Christian, thanks to Addy Lee’s inside-the-park home run that scored Sophie Williams, who reached base with a single.
Lee went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs, and Williams went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. B Reid went 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI.
Williams pitched a complete game, allowing seven hits with four strikeouts. Three of Victory Christian’s six runs were earned.
Photo gallery by Joe Medley
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