By Erik Harris, sports editor
OXFORD — The Hewitt-Trussville softball team went 3-0 on Day 1 of the Class 7A state softball tournament in Oxford.
The No. 1-ranked Huskies extended their current win streak to 17 games with victories over Baker (5-4), No. 10 Hoover (11-1) and No. 4 Bob Jones (8-2).
Hewitt polished off Thursday with a come-from-behind win over the Patriots, as the Area 6 champions posted 14 hits and stranded nine Bob Jones runners on base. The Huskies (48-2-1) scored at least one run in five of their six plate appearances.
Hewitt-Trussville saw two players (Crystal Maze and Kenleigh Cahalan) finish with three hits and an RBI in the win. Madi Mitchell also pulled her weight with two hits and three RBIs.
However, it was the Patriots that struck first with an RBI single from Aubrie Lisenby in the top of the first. The 1-0 lead was short lived, as Hewitt-Trussville answered with a crooked number in the home-half. Cahalan hammered home the equalizer with a run-scoring double into right, which was followed by a go-ahead RBI single up the middle from Maze, a Troy signee.
The lead swelled to three runs in the bottom of the third when Mitchell came through with two outs on. The senior lined two in with a poke into left for a 4-1 advantage. Mitchell stroked in her third RBI in the fifth when she doubled into left for a 6-2 lead.
Bob Jones would plate its final run in the fourth thanks to three straight hits, including an RBI double from Alexa Douthitt, but Hewitt-Trussville senior Tori Hyde (13-1) limited the damage with two groundouts and a strikeout with runners on second and third.
Hyde tossed a complete game, holding Bob Jones to just two runs on 11 hits. She struck out three batters, issued a single walk and stranded nine Patriots on base.
Head coach Taylor Burt and her Huskies will be back at Choccolocco Park on Friday afternoon needing one win to score a second straight state championship.
Winner’s bracket: Hewitt-Trussville 11, Hoover 1
The No. 1-ranked Huskies followed a 5-4 state tournament victory over Baker with an 11-1 winner’s bracket decision over No. 10 Hoover on Thursday afternoon.
In the second game of the day, Kenleigh Cahalan drove in three runs off two hits, Madi Mitchell homered with three RBIs, Sara Phillips fired a complete game two-hitter and the East Central Regional champions won their 16th straight game, matching their season-high.
Phillips (15-0, 1.882 ERA) worked out of some trouble to earn the win. The freshman righty pinned a Hoover runner on third in the first after tossing her first of nine strikeouts and forcing an inning-ending groundout. She later stranded the bases loaded with back-to-back strikeouts in the fifth to protect a 6-1 advantage.
From there, her offense rattled off five unanswered runs (two in the sixth and three more in the seventh). Junior Riley Tyree went the other way for a two-run single in the sixth and senior Jenna Lord blistered her 13th home run of the season — a three-run job to center — in the seventh.
Hewitt-Trussville (47-2-1) claimed its first lead in the top of the third when Anyce Harvey worked her way around for her first of two runs scored. The center fielder also finished with three hits and a walk.
The Huskies stretched things out of reach with five runs in the fourth, as Mitchell started the surge with a three-run shot to right field, upping her RBI total to 24 on the year.
First round: Hewitt-Trussville 5, Baker 4
A Jenna Lord single lifted the top-ranked Hewitt-Trussville Huskies to a 5-4 victory over Baker on Thursday in the first round of the Class 7A state tournament.
After not trailing throughout the East Central Regional last week, Hewitt-Trussville found itself in a 1-0 hole right off the bat on Thursday. Baker sophomore Emily Mizelle led off the first-round contest with a solo homer into center field. Her high-hanger caught a stiff Oxford breeze and carried the fence for a 1-0 advantage in the first inning.
Huskies junior Riley Tyree slapped in the equalizer in the bottom of the second after senior Crystal Maze reached on an infield single. Hewitt-Trussville claimed its first lead in the third, as Anyce Harvey led off with a walk, swiped second and third, and tagged up on a Kenleigh Cahalan sacrifice fly for a 2-1 advantage.
Cahalan, who brought a .529 average into the game, boomed her seventh triple of the year into the right-center field gap, scoring one more for a 3-1 cushion in the fifth. Her line drive chased Baker starter Gracie Cook and wrapped up her outing with two hits and two RBIs.
Lord extended the fifth with an RBI single up the middle for a 4-1 lead. The third baseman matched Cahalan with two hits and as many RBIs in the win.
The momentum completely swung in the sixth, as the Honeybees sent three runs in thanks to a pair of RBIs and an infield throwing error. Hewitt-Trussville righty Tori Hyde would strand the bases loaded after fielding a comebacker for the third out of a busy sixth inning.
The Huskies went down in order in the bottom of the sixth. Hannah Dorsett went the other way for base knock in the seventh. She quickly stole second and moved to third on a Cahalan infield single. Lord then sent her home with the walk-off single – a grounder right up the middle – for the team’s 15th straight win.