By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
TRUSSVILLE – The second-ranked Hewitt Trussville Lady Huskies hosted the 7A Area 6 tournament this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Goldie Paine Stadium, taking on Oak Mountain, Spain Park and Chelsea and playing a late Thursday night game to capture their third-straight area championship in wild fashion.
In the first round of the tournament, the hosts drew Oak Mountain. The game would be dominated by the Huskies right from the start. In the first inning, Hewitt would jump out 3-0 on the Eagles. The second inning would see the Huskies score 2 more runs and then another in the third. The fourth would be the worst for the visiting Eagles as they allowed Hewitt to get 5 runs across the plate, making it 11-0 Huskies in the end. While Olivia Faggard drove in 4 runs from the plate on a grand slam in the fourth to go with 2 RBI each from Sara Phillips and Gracie Reeves, all Phillips did from the mound was pitch a no-hitter and strike out 9 Oak Mountain batters.
On Wednesday, the Huskies would take on Spain Park, who had a similar win to theirs the previous day, beating Chelsea 11-1. With both teams riding a wave of momentum, the Jaguars came into the game looking to spoil the tournament for the host team. This one was a back-and-forth battle between 2 top 10 teams in a tournament to determine the area champions. It had all the makings of a monumental game, and it did not disappoint. Both teams got a run each in the first inning before Hewitt jumped out 2-1 on Spain Park in the second. The third and fourth were scoreless and then Hewitt got 2 more while the Jaguars got one in the fifth. The sixth was scoreless but Spain Park came back in the seventh and tied the game at 4. In the top of the ninth, Hewitt would take a 5-4 lead over Spain Park but with a 2-0 count, 1 out and 2 runners on, Spain Park’s Maggie Daniel would drive a steak into the hearts of the Lady Huskies in game 2 with a walk-off home run, sealing a 7-5 victory for the seventh-ranked Jaguars.
With the loss, Hewitt would now have an uphill battle if they wanted to get that third-straight area title. They would have to now play 3 games on Thursday, 2 of them being against the team that had just defeated them.
Thursday started with the Chelsea Hornets as the opponent. After a scoreless first inning, the Huskies would pour it on in the second and third, outscoring the Hornets 7-2 in the two innings. Hewitt would get another 3 in the fifth while Chelsea only managed 3 runs to this point. The Hornets would threaten in the sixth and seventh, outscoring the Huskies 3-0, but it would not be enough to overcome what Hewitt had already done and the Huskies would walk away with a 10-6 victory and the right to get revenge on Spain Park.
The second game of the day would see yet another heavyweight fight between two excellent softball teams as Spain Park took a 1-0 lead in the first and it stayed the same until the sixth inning. That is when Faggard drove in Tucker and then L Kelly hit a 3-run shot to center field to make it 4-1 Huskies. Each team would score a run in the seventh giving Hewitt the 5-2 win and leading both teams into a final game to decide who would be the 5A Area 6 champions. Z Tucker got the win from the mound for the Huskies, going the entire 7 innings and giving up just 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 8. At the plate, Kelly led with 3 RBI, going 2-3 with the bat in her hand.
And this is what it is all about folks. A final softball game to determine the champions of the area at 9:00 on a Thursday night, in the third game of the day for the Hewitt Trussville Lady Huskies. You would think that fatigue would set in and there would be some sloppy play in this game, but that did not appear to be the case. Spain Park jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first. The second and third would be scoreless, but the fourth would be anything but that. The Jaguars would get 2 more runs in the top of the fourth, making it 5-1. Like a light switch, the Huskies’ offense flipped on in the fourth, scoring 7 runs, to make it 8-5 Hewitt. The fifth would be scoreless and then Hewitt would put up 3 more in the sixth for good measure. 11-5 would be the final score and the Hewitt Trussville Huskies would be the winners of the 2023 5A Area 6 championship.
The Lady Huskies, now 39-7 and ranked second in the state in 7A, will take on the Thompson Warriors in the first round of the playoffs on Thursday, May 11.