Hartsfield carries Eagles to split

Oak Mountain used a dominant pitching performance from Joseph Hartsfield to take the second game of the Eagles’ Class 7A second round playoff series against Hewitt-Trussville, 6-0, and force a Game 3 on Saturday.

Hartsfield got three runs to work with in the first inning right off the bat, and that was more than enough. He went the distance and only faced two batters over the minimum, allowing a pair of hits and one walk.

“Tonight was huge, the second game,” Hartsfield said. “We got to bring it out tomorrow, or else that doesn’t really matter.”

Also standing out in his stat line were 12 strikeouts, eight of which came consecutively in the second, third, and fourth innings.

“He was mowing them down tonight. It was awesome,” said Mason Williamson, Hartsfield’s catcher.

In that game, John McDonald and Williamson combined for nearly all of the runs scored. McDonald went 3-for-4 at the dish and scored three runs. Williamson drove in and scored a pair of runs in a 2-for-3 performance. Caleb Floyd tacked on two RBIs.

For Oak Mountain, it was a “been there, done that” scenario, following last week’s series against Vestavia Hills.

“Last week, we lost Game 1, we score three runs in the first. It set the tone for the game. This week, we drop Game 1, score three in the first, and it sets the tone for the whole game,” head coach Derek Irons said.

The first game of the day was a back-and-forth affair, ultimately ending in a 6-5 victory for the Huskies. Ed Johnson’s two-run double in the sixth inning gave Hewitt-Trussville the lead, and Cameron Moore got a four-out save to preserve the win for starter Carson Skipper.

McDonald’s RBI single kicked off the scoring, but the Huskies took hold of a 3-1 lead in the third. Floyd knotted the game up at 3-all with a two-run single in the bottom half of the third.

After surrendering the lead, Ethan Holsembeck and Hartsfield notched back-to-back run-scoring hits to tie the game and then re-take the edge. After Johnson’s double, the Eagles put a runner on base in the sixth and seventh innings, but were unable to cash them in.

Being put in a similar situation as their first round series against Vestavia, the Eagles knew they could earn the split and force a third game. Now, that experience should help them.

“In hindsight, playing that third game last week probably benefits us a little bit,” Irons said. “We’ve been in that situation.”

Immediately following the game, Irons was unsure how he would handle his pitching staff in Game 3, but Gene Hurst and Hartsfield both went the distance on Friday, leaving the bullpen fresh for Saturday.

That third game will take place Saturday at 1 p.m., at Oak Mountain High School. The teams will flip a coin to determine the “home” team for the game.