Hudspeath goes distance, Hornets advance to quarterfinals

CHELSEA – It played out exactly as Michael Stallings knew it would.

“I said in order for us to have success, we’ve got to have a tremendous outing from Emmitt Hudspeath,” he said.

That’s what happened, as Hudspeath went the distance on Saturday and finished Game 3 off with a strikeout, lifting the Chelsea High School baseball team to a 5-3 win over Benjamin Russell to clinch the Class 6A second round playoff series.

“Man, he pitched his butt off today,” said Stallings, Chelsea’s head coach.

A split between the two teams on Friday set Hudspeath’s stage. Game 1 featured a Benjamin Russell comeback in an 8-7 win, with Chelsea picking up an 8-4 win in Game 2.

Hudspeath rebounded from a rough second inning – in which he allowed the only Benjamin Russell runs of the game – and allowed just four hits the rest of the way. In total, he surrendered seven hits, three runs and one walk to go with eight strikeouts.

The second inning was a mess for the Hornets. After Austin Elliott doubled, an error from second baseman Clay DeWeese allowed Tanner Barnett to reach and Elliott to advance to third. The following batter, Darius Jackson, bunted, but Hudspeath’s throw sailed wide and allowed Elliott to score.

With two outs, Wilson Hays and Bradley Stewart laced RBI singles to give the Wildcats a three-run inning.

Instead of wilting or allowing the pressure to build, Chelsea responded immediately with a three-run inning of its own in the top of the third inning. Nolan Forehand and DeWeese singled to set the table for Jacob Burback, who drove in both of them with a single and had a multi-hit game. William Root tied the game later in the inning with his RBI single. The Hornets had a chance to take the lead, but left the bases loaded.

“We got down 3-0 and we bounced right back,” Stallings said. “We never wavered. We never felt like we were defeated. That says a lot about this group.”

DeWeese more than made up for his error. He finished the day 2-for-4 at the plate with a run and an RBI.

The Hornets took the lead for good in the sixth inning. With two outs, Forehand – the ninth-place hitter – ripped a pitch down the third base line to score Root and give Chelsea the 4-3 edge. Two batters later, DeWeese singled up the middle to score Forehand for the 5-3 lead.

“He’s a heck of a ball player,” Stallings said of Forehand, who was 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored. “He lives it. There’s a lot of guys that you want in that moment, and he’s one of them. He’s a baseball player.”

Hudspeath forced a double play in the sixth and retired the side in order in the seventh to put the game away and advance the Hornets to the quarterfinals.

Brock Elliott started the game for Russell, and allowed five runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings.

The series win was the second of the three-game variety in as many weeks for the Chelsea, as the Hornets defeated Northview in the first round on a walk-off hit. Being in a Game 3 situation was nothing new this time around.

“We tell our guys to be ready, stay in the moment and be ready for Saturday in the playoffs. They showed up last week and did it again today,” Stallings said.

Chelsea will host defending state champion Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa in the quarterfinals next weekend. A Friday doubleheader is set to begin at 5 p.m., with Game 3 set for 1 p.m. Saturday if necessary.

“I think our guys are realizing that they’re capable and that they’re worthy,” Stallings said. “That’s just this group. They play with a lot of emotion and a lot of intensity. The expectation is to win.”