By Bobby Mathews, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE — Down 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth and looking for a spark, Hewitt-Trussville head coach Taylor Burt turned to her bench in the weather-delayed 7A Area 6 tournament championship game against Spain Park here on Wednesday, May 4, which the Huskies eventually won, 5-4.
Gracie Reeves came off the bench and delivered a single to get aboard with one out, and Hannah Dorsett singled to right field behind her. Reeves motored to third base on a throwing error and then scampered home, sliding headfirst into the plate and bringing everything even at 4-4.
“I didn’t really know (that the ball was loose),” Reeves said. “I just listened to Coach Burt and was like ‘I guess I’ve gotta go!’ I just had one thought. I just wanted to get home.”
It was a huge play, and one that changed the complexion of the game, shifting momentum back to the Huskies when they needed it most.
When neither the Jags nor Huskies could find an advantage in the seventh, sophomore Sara Phillips rose to the occasion — as she so often did throughout the tournament — to bomb a solo home run to straightaway center field in the bottom of the eighth inning to win it.
“I could tell (it was gone) when the ball came off the bat,” Phillips said. “It’s huge (to win the area tournament). It just shows what we can do. We want to keep our momentum, wanted to get that higher seed going into regionals and keep making our way to state.”
Phillips pitched the seventh and eighth innings in relief of Sarah Hindman, who went six innings and gave up four runs (only two earned). Hindman struck out three and walked four, but her greatest asset on this night was inducing infield grounders against an aggressive Spain Park lineup.
“I’m really proud of Sarah Hindman,” Burt said. “I think she did a great job. I think we have to show more consistency giving her run support, and helping her out, helping her relax on the mound a little bit so that she feels better about what she’s doing and we play better defense behind her so she can do her job.”
Hindman’s consistency was key over the course of the middle innings as the Huskies held the Jags scoreless over the middle innings. A misplayed ball on a base hit by the Jags’ Emma Jolley put two runs across in the top of the sixth for a 4-3 Spain Park lead.
“She stayed level-headed, did exactly what we asked her to do,” Burt said. “She did a great job.”
On this night — delayed by weather and a mammoth three-hour game between Spain Park and Vestavia for the right to face Hewitt-Trussville in the tournament finals — the Huskies would not be denied.
“Gracie showed the kind of fight and fire that we’ve been asking for all year long,” Burt said. “She’s shown it in the dugout for us and got an opportunity to show it on the field, and she did. She did an incredible job. That’s the kind of fight that we’ve been asking for, and she gave it to us. And I’m so proud of her.”
Senior Maddie Wallace was another spark off the bench as she singled in the fifth inning, scoring when Riley Tyree doubled her home to take a 3-1 advantage. Tyree went 3-for-4 at the plate.
“Coach Burt told us to go hit (in the batting cage) so I went and hit,” Wallace said. “I was ready. I knew her pitch was flat, and I had a lot of fire. I just tried not to think about anything while I was up there.”
Wallace was 1-for-2 on the night. Dorsett went 2-for-4, while Kenleigh Cahalan went 1-for-3 with a walk and scored.
It looked in the first inning as if Hewitt-Trussville might run away with the game. The Huskies went up 2-0 to start with, as Cahalan singled and Olivia Faggard walked. After Cahalan stole second, she advanced to third on a wild pitch. Tyree then singled to plate Cahalan and push Faggard to second.
Ana Henson then walked, followed by a Phillips walk to make it 2-0 after the first. After Spain Park’s Blakely Watts scored in the top of the second, the game turned into a defensive battle.