By Johnny Sanders, Sports Editor
OXFORD – The best teams in the state visited Oxford’s Choccolocco Park this weekend for the Alabama softball state playoffs. Despite a Friday afternoon loss, the Hewitt Trussville Huskies solidified themselves, for the third time in the past four state softball championships, as the state’s best team on Saturday night with back-to-back wins over the Fairhope Pirates.
Hewitt Trussville’s Sara Phillips pitches during the 2023 State Championship.
Photo by: Johnny Sanders
The Huskies started the weekend going 2-1 to start the tournament. They beat Daphne in game one by a score of 3-2 on a walk-off grounder by Gracie Reeves that drove home Ryleigh Wood for the winning run. The second game would not be nearly as dramatic as the Huskies made short work of the Central Red Devils 6-0. Sara Phillips pitched a 3-hit shutout and multiple players contributed from the plate in the win. Hewitt would then run into the Fairhope Pirates in the third game of the day, falling 1-0 in a game that saw the Pirates score in the opening inning and the remainder of the game was a pitchers’ duel in which neither team could score.
Going into day two, the Huskies would find themselves playing for their lives, digging out of the loser’s bracket and taking the hard road to the blue map. The task was a daunting one, but the Huskies were built for such a challenge.
In game one on Saturday morning, the Huskies took on the Sparkman Senators. Hewitt scored methodically over the Senators, putting up one run in the first, second and fourth innings and getting a 2-run sixth to seal the deal. Sara Phillips continued her brilliant season, getting the win with a 3-hit shutout and striking out 7 before Kate Hicks came in to finish it off, allowing no hits nor runs and striking out 2. Olivia Faggard would go 3-of-4 from the plate with 2 RBI in the game and that would not be the last we would hear from her.
The second game would be the first of two against Fairhope that the Huskies would need to win in order to see their goal of being state champs become reality. The game would see 3 scoreless innings before Hewitt’s bats came to life in the fourth inning, where they put up 4 runs. Fairhope would manage just 1 run in the fifth before Hewitt got another one across the plate in the sixth to make it 5-1 heading into the final inning of play. Hewitt would add 2 runs in the seventh and, despite Fairhope’s best effort to make a comeback, their 3 runs in the bottom of the seventh would not be enough as the Huskies would get the 7-4 win to force another game between the two teams. Phillips would get the win, going 5 innings and allowing just one run on 7 hits and striking out 6. Zaylen Tucker and Kate Hicks would finish the game off for the Huskies, allowing a combined 5 hits and just 3 runs while striking out 2.
In the final game of the day, these two teams would face off for the third time this weekend. The game did not start very favorable for the Huskies as Fairhope would jump out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Hewitt would not get any runs across the plate in the bottom of the inning and a lightning delay would slow things down for approximately one hour. The clouds would part and the skies would clear up, bringing the tarps off of the field and allowing the teams to get back to business. The Huskies came out determined, beginning with a one-run second inning. In the third, Hewitt would take the lead at 3-2, and never relinquish it.
The Husky bats absolutely exploded in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring 8 runs against the Pirates. All this time, Phillips and company did not allow another run and, in the fifth inning, the Huskies would get a run across the plate to go up by 10 points, 12-2, and pick up the blowout win by way of the run rule, sealing the win and the state championship. Phillips pitched the whole 5 innings, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and striking out 2 batters. Faggard finished the game with 3 RBI on 2 of 4 batting. Phillips, Reeves, Hannah Dorsett, and Lexie Kelly all had 2 RBI each for the Huskies.
This marks the third time in four state championship series that the Huskies have won the most prestigious prize in the state of Alabama in 7A softball, solidifying themselves as a true dynasty in the state.
