By Shaun Szkolnik, sports editor
TRUSSVILLE — It was all on the line Saturday afternoon at Phil English Field where the Hewitt-Trussville Huskies took on Oak Mountain in Game 3/round 1 of the 7A State Championship playoffs. The series was split in a doubleheader the night before with Oak Mountain taking Game 1, 0-3, and Hewitt-Trussville keeping the dream alive with a a 3-2 win in Game 2.
The Huskies got on the board quickly in the bottom of the first inning with a double from Tyler Mauldin driving in the first run of the game. Hewitt-Trussville kept up the momentum in the second with Kerrigan Edmonson driving in another run.
The Eagles first run came in the top of the third with two errors from the Huskies paving the way.
Hewitt-Trussville denied Oak Mountain a run in the top of the fourth inning with Creed Parker getting an infield ball and rocketing it to home before the runner could get there. Catcher Julian Sauger got the out for the Huskies.
The Eagles defense worked well with a double play bringing an end to a quick bottom of the fourth.
The top of the fifth brought the run that tied things up for Oak Mountain; quick work by the Huskies, however, brought an out at third base that ended the half and kept the Indians from taking the lead.
The Huskies put on the heat in the bottom of the fifth. A walk with the bases loaded advanced a run in for Hewitt-Trussville, and a sacrifice pop-fly by Julian Sauger allowed Kerrigan Edmonson to steal home giving the Huskies their fourth run of the game and doubling the size of their lead.
Going into the seventh inning, there was still the feeling that it was anybody’s game. The Husky defense quickly disabused the crowd of this notion. Two batters were put away with pop flys being caught, and the third was struck out by Skylar Jones.
Skyler Jones had the win for Hewitt-Trussville. He pitched seven innings for the Huskies. Jones got the save in Game 2 of the series after Jared Waites took the win for the Huskies, pitching six and one-third innings in Game 2.
Huskies Head Coach Jeff Mauldin shared a little of what kept the Huskies going during the three-game series against Oak Mountain.
“We tell them (the student-athletes) God’s blessed you with the ability to play,” said Mauldin. “Not everybody can play the game of baseball and if God has given you this ability to play, honor God and play with all your heart, all your mind, all your body, all your soul.”
Mauldin also shared how the Huskies caught the momentum and kept it going in games two and three of the series.
“I think last night, scoring runs early in the first inning gave us confidence and Jared (Waites) threw an unbelievable game,” said Mauldin. “But I joke with them all the time; momentum is only as good as your next day’s starting pitcher. We’ve got a lot of confidence in Jared (Waites), and he gave us what we needed, and we had the momentum going into today, and we’ve got a lot of confidence in Skyler (Jones). Not a lot of people know about a lot of our guys, but on our team, we’ve got lots of confidence in whoever we put out there.”
Hewitt-Trussville’s confidence was well placed in Waites, Jones and the rest of the team. Thanks to the series victory the Huskies will advance to the second round of the playoffs with a best-of-three game series in Florence that will start Friday.
Husky victories from Friday night and Saturday afternoon mark the 600th and 601st career win for Huskies Head Coach Jeff Mauldin.