Jags finish 3rd at state tournament
MONTGOMERY – A narrow loss to defending champion Sparkman eliminated the Spain Park High School softball team on Friday afternoon, putting an undesirable cap on one of the most successful seasons in school history.
Sparkman won 8-7 over the Jags with a trip to the finals on the line, ending the Jags’ run in the Class 7A state tournament at Lagoon Park in Montgomery. After winning the first two games of the tournament on Thursday, the Jags lost 7-1 to Buckhorn and fell to Sparkman.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” said Spain Park coach CJ Hawkins. “They’re all rock stars. They compete and they represented our community, represented our school. They brought so much love and excitement to our area. They’re champions.”
The loss to the Senators was a game of huge momentum swings, as Sparkman struck first with a first-inning RBI single, but the Jags took the lead in the second inning with a big inning.
Julianna Cross beat out an infield hit and the throw went astray, allowing Taylor Harrington and Maddie Majors to score. Cross came around to score on Jenna Olszewski’s hit to give Spain Park a 3-1 edge.
Cross finished her final game at Spain Park 2-for-4 with two runs scored, and made several impressive defensive plays on the day, including a catch at the fence in Spain Park’s first game of the day and an assist in the third inning, as Sparkman’s Kamryn Warman tried to stretch her hit into a double and was gunned down with a perfect throw.
An error allowed a pair of Sparkman runners to come in and tie the game in the third inning, and the Senators took the lead when the next batter hit a single through the right side, putting Sparkman in front, 4-3.
Lily Calvert added an RBI single in the fourth to extend Sparkman’s lead to 5-3, but the Jags followed through with a big rally.
Cross, Olszewski and Mary Katherine Tedder all singled in the fourth to set the table for Caroline Parker. She continued a pattern of clutch hits over the past few weeks and sent a grounder through the right side to tie the game at 5-5. Annabelle Widra followed Parker with an RBI single to left, and Parker came around to score on a wild pitch to give the Jags a 7-5 lead.
Widra went the distance in the circle for the Jags, and only two of the eight runs surrendered were counted as earned. Tedder was 2-for-2 with three walks in her final contest, and Olszewski was 3-for-5 with an RBI.
The Senators tied the game at 7-7 in the fifth with a pair of infield hits, and they would deliver the critical blow with two outs in the sixth, as Lauryn Gross’ slap hit to left field gave Sparkman the ultimate 8-7 lead.
To be back at the state tournament after last season’s second-place finish and come away in third this time around, and to feel somewhat disappointed, is a testament to the level of the Spain Park program.
Hawkins said, “They’re competitors. They’re winners. They expected to be at the top, being able to come out of our area and come out of our region and dominate like we did and then come out 2-0 in this tournament. This was heartbreaking when it doesn’t go our way.”
In the first game on Friday morning, two big plays swung the game in Buckhorn’s favor.
In a 1-1 game in the top of the sixth inning, Buckhorn loaded the bases with one out for Sidney Edwards. On the first pitch, she smoked a line drive perfectly placed between third baseman Alexis Anderson and the foul line that she was already hugging. The ball shot all the way to the left field corner, far enough for all three runners to score and give Buckhorn the 4-1 lead.
Kaylee Combs took the very next pitch far beyond the fence in left field for a two-run home run and in two pitches, the Lady Bucks’ lead ballooned to 6-1.
After three scoreless innings – including a lengthy delay as umpires checked the legality of a Buckhorn bat – the Lady Bucks got on the board in the fourth inning with a Jordan Evans RBI single to right field.
Spain Park evened things in the bottom half, as Tedder singled and Olszewski doubled to lead off the inning. With runners at second and third, Buckhorn pitcher Zoie Emrick was called for an illegal pitch, allowing Tedder to come in to score and make it 1-1.
Buckhorn put two runners on with consecutive singles to lead off the fifth inning, but nothing came of the threat thanks to some stellar defense from center fielder Cross. She sprinted in to catch a short pop and then made a spectacular catch while knocking a partition of the fence down for the second straight year.
The Jags drew a pair of walks in the fifth but were unable to convert. Buckhorn tacked on the game’s final run in the seventh on a wild pitch.
Widra was charged with six runs in her six innings of work, as she allowed nine hits and struck out three. Caroline Kendrick pitched the seventh.
Spain Park is now forced to say goodbye to an extremely successful senior class that includes, Cross, Olszewski, Tedder, Parker, Mary Kate Teague and Hope Maddox.