Jags stay in winner's bracket after Day 1

MONTGOMERY – The Spain Park High School softball team did as much as it could on Thursday.

It stayed in the winner’s bracket.

After being fortunate to knock off Auburn on Thursday morning in the opener of the Class 7A state tournament, the Jags left no doubt with a dominant win over Baker at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.

“It’s about staying in that winner’s bracket and we’ve talked about that from Day 1,” said Spain Park coach C.J. Hawkins.

The Jags jumped on Baker from the word ‘go’ in the nightcap and never let up, ending the contest in five innings by winning 10-0.

In the first inning, Mary Katherine Tedder narrowly missed a home run. Her deep fly ball to left field hit the top of the fence and fell back into play, but Maddie Majors came around to score on the hit to give Spain Park the 1-0 lead.

Two batters later, Caroline Parker delivered with the bases loaded. After going 0-for-2 in the first game of the day, she smacked a ball to the gap in right center field. Her double cleared the bases and made it 4-0, the key blow in the eventual run-rule game.

Hawkins said, “Caroline Parker’s hit was critical, that was clutch.”

The Jags added to that in the second. Majors scored her second run of the day as Jenna Olszewski’s short pop into right field was perfectly placed and fell for a hit. Julianna Cross came around to score soon thereafter on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.

Cross and Tedder registered back-to-back laser doubles to left field, and Tedder’s chased Cross home to give the Jags the 7-0 edge. Parker followed two batters later with a hit almost identical to her first one, as her double brought in another run and the Jags extended the lead to 8-0.

Majors drove home a pair with a triple in the fifth to stretch the lead to double digits and send the Jags home with a pair of wins on Thursday.

Annabelle Widra allowed just two hits and a walk to go along with four strikeouts in her five innings of work.

After the Baker win, Spain Park advances to play the winner between Tuscaloosa County and Buckhorn in the semifinals on Friday at 10:30 a.m., and the Jags hoped for and expected nothing less.

“In the past, being here, Spain Park was just thrilled to be a part of this and it was just a bonus for every step. These girls have set some lofty goals,” Hawkins said.

Spain Park began its run in the tournament with some theatrics and drama on Thursday.

The Jags rallied in the final inning to defeat Auburn, 3-2, in the opening round of the tournament. With the bases loaded in a tie game, Olszewski was grazed in the arm by a pitch, earning her base and forcing in the winning run.

Spain Park did not execute to the best of its ability throughout the contest, but continued to battle despite entering the seventh trailing 2-1.

Mary Kate Teague led off the inning the same way the inning eventually ended, as she was hit by a pitch. Widra followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance courtesy runner Caroline Kendrick to second base.

The following batter, Taylor Harrington, also dropped down a bunt, but the Auburn third baseman fielded the ball and the throw sailed into right field, allowing Kendrick to come around and score on the error to tie the game at 2-2.

Majors popped up behind shortstop, but no Auburn defender was able to corral the pop, putting runners on first and second. With two outs, Tedder walked to load the bases, and Olszewski ended it with her HBP.

“That’s a huge lift, because that was a game we had to come from behind, and we haven’t done that in a couple weeks,” Hawkins said. “We’ve been cruising a little bit. Super proud of them showing resiliency and overcoming adversity and some of the mental mistakes and sticking together.”

Tedder began the scoring in the game, as she capped off an eight-pitch at-bat with a line drive shot over the fence in left field for a home run to give Spain Park the 1-0 edge in the first inning.

Auburn tied the game in the third inning, as Spain Park failed to execute on a bunt and allowed a run to score.

Widra was unhittable for much of the game, but an RBI single pushed the Auburn lead to 2-1 in the fifth. She allowed four hits and two runs (one earned) to go along with five strikeouts in the game.

Spain Park tallied just three hits in the game, but found a way to win.