By Kyle Parmley
For The Trussville Tribune
BIRMINGHAM – The Huskies staved off elimination by a thread.
Down a run in the seventh inning, Tyler Tolbert scored the tying run after a throwing error, and Hewitt-Trussville tacked on three in the ninth to take home a 7-5 win over Oak Mountain in a deciding Game 3 of the second round of the Class 7A playoffs.
“We told them when we went into extras innings, ‘This is fun. This is why you do what you do,’” Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jeff Mauldin said.
The eighth and ninth innings were no breeze, as the Huskies had opportunities to take the lead in the eighth. On a base hit, Oak Mountain left fielder Garret DeAraujo gunned down a runner at the plate, and Hewitt failed to score in the inning.
The Huskies would not be deterred, though. Ed Johnson reached base on an errant throw and Jamison Stennis beat the throw on a perfectly placed bunt to set the stage for Carson Skipper, who ripped a double to score both runs.
“They just showed absolute resilience and ‘we are not going to stop today,’ but they did too,” Mauldin said.
Oak Mountain came back in the bottom of the ninth and loaded the bases, but was only able to score a single run. Skipper came on in relief to shut the door and notch the save for the Huskies.
Skipper relieved Davis Burgin, who threw 2.2 innings in his first varsity appearance on the mound in what Mauldin estimated to be around a month.
Mauldin said, “We knew yesterday he was going to be the guy because of what he had done preparing for this moment.”
The normal closer for Hewitt-Trussville, Cameron Moore, started the game and pitched into the sixth inning in a “gutsy” performance.
Hewitt-Trussville piled up 13 hits in the game, and eight of the nine starters picked up a hit, including multi-hit games from five players. Single runs in the second and fifth put the Huskies ahead by a run, and runs in the sixth and seventh pulled the game even both times.
The Huskies will host Sparkman, the ASWA No. 1 team in Class 7A, next weekend in the semifinal round of the postseason. After Saturday’s win, Mauldin stepped back and reflected on his team.
“Thank God for giving me the opportunity to coach these kids, and the responsibility to coach them. It’s a true blessing to be a leader for them,” he said.
2 Comments
Joe Cochran
Nicely done Jeff Schrupp
Jeff Schrupp
Thanks joe