By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
SPRINGVILLE — It wasn’t easy, but the Springville Tigers did what they needed to do to get past a couple of strong contenders here on Tuesday, May 3, to reach the finals of the 6A Area 13 softball tournament.
Game 1: Springville 4, Southside-Gadsden 3
The Tigers plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, only to see Southside storm back and take a 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning.
Alexandria Layfield scored on a bang-bang play at home plate, beating the force out with the bases loaded as Ashlyn Cooley grounded into a fielder’s choice. An infield single by Bekah Hargrove gave the Tigers another run when Leah Bowden scored from third to make it 2-0 Springville.
After falling behind 3-2 in the top of the fifth, Springville was stymied in their half of the inning and didn’t score again until the bottom of the sixth when an intentional walk to Makalyn Kyser loaded the bases with one out. Disaster struck for Southside when Tori Barnes was hit by a pitch to force the tying run across the plate.
Talk about lightning striking twice: Next up for the Tigers was pitcher Bella Bullington, also hit by a pitch to score Hargrove for the 4-3 advantage.
Bullington threw a complete game, facing 30 batters and allowing three runs off of four hits. She issued one walk and struck out three.
Game 2: Springville 4, Pell City 3
Leah Bowden knocked a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh on a 1-1 count to score Emmy Leopard, and the Tigers came from behind to knock off Pell City, 4-3.
Springville went down 3-0 after the third inning, firing back to tie things up in the bottom of the fifth when Bella Bullington hit a sac fly to right field to score Bekah Hargrove. Shelby Hathcock hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Cami Gunter (running for Makalyn Kyser), and then Layla Bradshaw singled to score Tori Barnes to tie things up.
That set up Bowden’s heroics in the bottom of the seventh, moving Springville on to the finals of the 6A Area 13 tournament and assuring the Tigers of a regional playoff berth. Springville will play in the finals of the area tourney on Thursday, May 5, at 5 p.m.