By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE — Sophomore pitcher Sara Phillips moved to 17-0 as a starter and the Hewitt-Trussville girls showed strong judgment at the plate, exploiting a Mortimer Jordan pitching duo that couldn’t find the plate in Thursday night’s 15-0 victory on ‘Taylor Burt Day,’ honoring their coach.
After walking Hannah Dorsett and Kenleigh Cahalan, Mortimer Jordan loaded the bases on another walk, and then Riley Rudick walked on four straight pitches for an RBI. During an inning where Mortimer Jordan faced 15 batters and changed pitchers, the Huskies piled up 10 runs. From there, it was all over but the shoutin’.
“Our pitch selection tonight was much better than it has been,” Hewitt-Trussville head coach Taylor Burt said afterward. “We saw pretty much the same kind of pitching at Hoover, and we did not have as good a pitch selection (against Hoover in a 4-3 loss). So we had good pitch selection and took the walks when she gave us the walks.”
Hannah Dorsett doubled in the bottom of the fourth inning and eventually came around to score the final run of the game, officially run-ruling the Blue Devils.
As the senior second-baseman took her practice cuts in the on-deck circle, she approached the hitter before her with words of advice.
“The pitcher was obviously struggling and getting ahead in the count,” Dorsett said. “But in the previous three batters she was kind of getting more strikes, so I told her to be aggressive, tonot to wait for that strike — if it’s there, drive it.”
As for Phillips, she took the mound for her first start only three days removed from a run to the AHSAA 7A Regional finals with the Huskies’ girls basketball team. While she looked sharp in the circle, Phillips said that she’s not where she wants to be just yet, and also credited the defense behind her.
“I really just tried to trust my pitches,” Phillips said. “This is my first game back, so I just tried to work on getting back into it. We have a really good defense behind me. There’s really no weak spots on our defense. We’re strong everywhere … I’m not back at 100 percent yet. I still have work to do.”
Riley Tyree said the players’ patience at the plate came directly from a strong practice on Wednesday.
“We did have a good practice yesterday, focused mostly on hitting,” Tyree said. “We were working on finding our pitch, attacking early only if it’s a good pitch. Sometimes you have to be patient, especially if the pitcher’s struggling, you have to wait on your pitch.”
Hewitt-Trussville travels to Alabaster to play Thompson on Tuesday, March 1.
Photos from the game are below. Photo credit: Ron Burkett.