By Erik Harris, sports editor
TRUSSVILLE — It was a special night at Phil English Field in Trussville, as the Huskies hosted Springville for military appreciation night Thursday.
Players on both sides took the field alongside veterans representing different branches of the U.S. military. The mix of young and old stood together for the pregame playing of the national anthem. One of the many participants was Roger Treglown, who is the grandfather of Huskies’ varsity player Carson Treglown.
“It’s an honor,” said Roger, following the ceremony. “It’s an honor to represent our county and our service out there and for people to respect us. When I served, a lot of people coming back from Vietnam weren’t respected.”
Roger enjoyed the rest of the evening from the bleachers, as Hewitt-Trussville notched its 12th win of the season — an 8-4 final over the visiting Tigers. It’s military appreciation night here at Phil English Field in Trussville. @hewitt_baseball pic.twitter.com/6DUEXa1buX — Erik Harris (@jeharris2) March 12, 2021
The Huskies worked for six hits at home and rallied back from an early one-run deficit to improve to 12-2 on the year. Springville slips to 10-3 on the early season.
Hewitt-Trussville junior Riley Quick worked a complete seven innings with 13 strikeouts and four runs allowed. He also provided some run support with a two-run single in the fourth. He scooched a sharply-hit grounder past Springville third baseman Owen Prickett who was playing up in the grass for HT’s first lead at 3-1.
The Tigers struck first after loading the bases in the second. Rece Gleason provided the run-scoring line into left field for a 1-0 lead. However, Quick would work out of the bases-loaded jam with little damage done. He pitched out of more trouble in the fourth, when he left three more on base, preserving the 1-0 deficit.
Hewitt would sit the Tigers down in order in the first, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
The homestanding Huskies evened things up at 1-all with some crafty baserunning in the home-half of the second, and pulled ahead for good with a 3-spot in the fourth. Quick started up the surge with his two-run single, which was followed by another run-scoring single from Brooks McRae.
Hewitt-Trussville led 4-1 going into the fifth. That was improved upon with two more runs in both the fifth and sixth frames. Ethan Duhon led the Huskies with a pair of hits and two runs scored to go with RBIs from Quick, McRae, Trey Burrell and Kurt Kizer.
For Springville, Jake Goolsby provided another strong showing with two hits and as many RBIs. Brady Gillespie (four innings, four runs and three strikeouts) and Jake Ballard (two innings, four runs and two strikeouts) teamed up on the mound.