By Shaun Szkolnik, sports editor
MONTGOMERY – A historic season for Hewitt-Trussville softball was capped off by the 7A softball state championship game against Sparkman.
The Huskies lost their first game in the double-elimination tournament to defending 7A champions Fairhope but came back strong with wins against Central High School, Spain Park, Baker, Auburn and Sparkman. Since Sparkman had lost zero games before facing the Huskies, a second one was required to determine the winner of the state championship.
Throughout the tournament, Head Coach Taylor Burt praised the Huskies for their drive and resilience in never giving up and pushing through the toughest teams in the state.
“The fight, the sheer willingness to keep going forward,” said Burt. “I love these kids, and this is all we’ve talked about all year long and they’re doing it at the right time. Never down, never out. The just kept fighting.”
And fight these Huskies did.
The Huskies got on the board early with in the first off a hit by Crystal Maze. More runs came in the second when Kenleigh Cahalan brought in two runs on a line drive single.
Sparkman tied it up with runs in the third.
The Huskies added to their score in the fourth as a double by Cahalan drove in another run, and then Cahalan came across the plate thanks to a hit by Maze.
Kailey Walters got a double to center with bases loaded for the Huskies. This brought the Huskies lead over Sparkman up to 8-3.
Sparkman was able to score one more run in the game, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Huskies at bay. After defeating Sparkman in two consecutive games, the Hewitt-Trussville Huskies became the 7A State Softball Champions.
“It is pretty sweet,” said Burt. “That is something I dreamed about as a player, something I dreamed about as a coach. I think one of the things that I didn’t realize was that I love it for myself, but I love it 150 times more for them and that they get to experience it, and they get to do these amazing things and represent their city and their school and be the first.”
Hewit-Trussville softball player Crystal Maze was named the MVP for the game. She had one run, two hits and two RBIs.
Kaitlyn Hughes had the win for the Huskies. She gave up four runs on 11 hits. Hughes had four strikeouts and pitched for seven innings.