By Gary Lloyd
MONTGOMERY — The coaches didn’t have many words.
The game was that good.
No. 5 Pelham got a walk-off RBI single by Alex Urban that scored Fletcher Johnson to give the Panthers a 3-2 Game 1 win over No. 10 Hewitt-Trussville in the Class 6A state championship.
“What a game,” said first-year Pelham head coach Sean Anderson.
The hit came off junior relief pitcher Michael Busby, who has been rock solid throughout the playoffs. Busby took the loss in Game 1, allowing one earned run on two hits in 2/3 of an inning.
Game 2 will be Saturday at 4 p.m. at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery. A third game, if necessary, will follow at 7 p.m.
Getting down 1-0 in a playoff series is nothing new to Hewitt-Trussville (34-12). It lost the first game of each series against Grissom in the third round and Hoover in last week’s semifinals.
Senior third baseman Connor Cox had two of Hewitt-Trussville’s three hits in the Game 1 loss to Pelham.
photo by Scott Buttram
“I’m not worried about it at all,” said first-year Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jeff Mauldin.
Anderson recognized one game does not equal a state championship.
“It’s not over by any means,” he said.
Thomas Lowery, a UAB commitment, got the win for Pelham (27-13). He pitched a complete game, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits. He struck out 10 and walked none. He threw 105 pitches.
“He was the difference in the game,” Mauldin said.
At one point, Lowery retired 14 straight Hewitt-Trussville batters.
“Dominating performance,” Mauldin said.
Hewitt-Trussville had jumped on Lowery early.
Senior third baseman Connor Cox hit a solo home run in the second inning for the game’s first run. Later that inning, sophomore shortstop Carter Pharis scored on a throwing error by Pelham shortstop Jackson Pruitt.
Pelham cut the deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the third inning when a Hunter Stovall single plated Johnson, who finished with three hits and as many stolen bases. Pelham tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a bloop single by Pruitt that scored Stovall.
For Hewitt-Trussville, senior pitcher Grayson Jones allowed two earned runs on six hits across 5 2/3 innings. He struck out seven and walked one. He hit two batters.
Jones said he “ran out of juice” in the sixth inning, when Pelham got two singles and a walk off him.
Hewitt-Trussville got hits from senior center fielder Jasen White and two from Cox.
Cox said being down a game the last two weeks has been the team’s “driving force” to winning its next two and advance through the playoffs. He said it will be Hewitt-Trussville’s driving force again Saturday, when it will need back-to-back wins to claim its first state championship.
“We want to go out on top,” Cox said.
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.
