AISA AA TITLE: Hooper beats Abbeville Christian for first-ever fast pitch championship
AISA executive director Michael McClendon presents the AISA Class AA championship trophy to the Hooper Academy Colts after their win over Abbeville Christian on Saturday at Lagoon Park. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The Colts were in desperate need of a hit to answer a sixth-inning challenge from Abbeville Christian, so Hooper Academy coach Elyse Grier pulled aside junior Victoria Hagemann for a few words of encouragement.
“I told her there was nobody I wanted more in that situation than her because I know what she’s capable of, even if she doesn’t know,” Grier said. “I knew they were going to make a mistake and she was going to capitalize on it. We knew we needed to answer (Abbeville’s two-run rally), we needed to respond to it and there’s nobody better to do it than the one that’s in the circle, fighting so hard.”
Hagemann ripped a triple off of the right field fence, driving in Annie Bressler from first base to give the Colts an insurance run in a 4-2 win over the Generals for the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA state championship on Saturday afternoon at Lagoon Park.
It was the first state championship for Hooper Academy in fast pitch softball and it didn’t come without some sixth inning drama as the Generals took advantage of a pair of Hooper errors to score a pair of runs and trim the deficit to 3-2. In the bottom half of the inning, two quick outs fueled the enthusiasm of the Abbeville fans until Bressler singled to center and Hagemann followed with her third hit of the game.
“That was huge,” Hagemann said. “I was kind of surprised I did that, honestly.”
Hagemann retired the Generals in order in the seventh and the Colts had finally secured an elusive championship. Since finishing second to Glenwood in 2010, Hooper had managed just three state tournament victories in six tournament appearances, missing the eight-team tournament five times and going two and out on three other occasions.
“It is amazing,” Grier said. “There’s no other way to describe it. We came together as a team. Our mental state was not there for a while. Physically, we had it, we know how to play the game. We just had to be mentally tough.”
Hooper won the first game in the tournament 8-0, then survived its first test, holding off a late Edgewood rally to beat the Wildcats 4-3. Then came a 9-4 win over Abbeville, the first state tournament loss by the two-time defending state champion Generals in three years.
A day later, the Colts would do it again as Hagemann held the Generals to just four hits over the first five innings and getting some run support as Hagemann and Kaylee Midkiff singled in the third and later scored on sacrifice fly outs, and Jaslynn Harris duplicating the formula in the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead.
Then came the sixth inning as Hagemann allowed three consecutive singles and the Colt defense struggled to make plays on three consecutive plays, allowing Abbeville to score a pair of runs and drawing a trip to the circle by Grier to compose her players.
“I walked out there and said, hey, we’ve got to do our job,” Grier said. “We’re going to face some adversity, we’re going to face some quicksand, but we just had to come together and do our job and that’s what we did.”
Hagemann recovered by striking out the next batter and retiring the Generals in order in the seventh, overcoming the adversity that plagued the Colts in past state tournament games and at times this season.
“We came together as team, finally, after losing like 12 in row,” Hagemann said. “We finally came together as a team, put the bats together, along with the defense.”
Hooper (28-11-1) did what it had never done before, putting down a championship-caliber team on the biggest stage. That gave the Colts their first-ever state championship trophy in softball.
“One through nine of their batting lineup, you can’t slack off,” Grier said. “It’s just a respect thing. You’ve got to be on your ‘A’ game. That’s what we did and Victoria Hagemann did her job in the circle.”
Joining Hagemann on the all-tournament team were teammates KG Taylor, Bressler and Midkiff, the Abbeville trio of Gabbie Causey, Caroline Armstrong and Hope Kennedy and Southern Academy’s Mallory Sluder.
AISA 2023 STATE SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT RESULTS
CLASS A
North River Christian 4, Snook Christian 1
Crenshaw Christian 13, Coosa Valley 1
South Choctaw 18, Heritage Christian 0
Snook Christian 14, Coosa Valley 8
Crenshaw Christian 14, North River Christian 1
Lowndes Academy 11, South Choctaw 1
South Choctaw 14, Snook Christian 2
North River Christian 11, Heritage Christian 3
Crenshaw Christian 3, Lowndes Academy 0
South Choctaw 10, North River Christian 0
Lowndes Academy 12, South Choctaw 4
FINALS: Lowndes Academy 6, Crenshaw Christian 2; Lowndes Academy 4, Crenshaw Christian 0 (Lowndes wins A championship)
CLASS AA
Hooper Academy 8, Pickens Academy 0
Edgewood Academy 10, Patrician Academy 5
Chambers Academy 4, Southern Academy 2
Abbeville Christian 10, Jackson Academy 2
Patrician Academy 5, Pickens Academy 1
Southern Academy 5, Jackson Academy 3
Hooper Academy 4, Edgewood Academy 3
Abbeville Christian 11, Chambers Academy 1
Patrician Academy 11, Chambers Academy 10
Southern Academy 6, Edgewood Academy 5
Hooper Academy 9, Abbeville Christian 4
Patrician Academy 7, Southern Academy 5
Abbeville Christian 7, Patrician Academy 2
Finals: Hooper Academy 4, Abbeville Christian 2 (Hooper wins AA championship)
CLASS AAA
Glenwood School 14, Fort Dale Academy 2
Macon East Academy 17, Bessemer Academy 8
Springwood School 3, Clarke Prep School 1
Lee-Scott Academy 11, Monroe Academy 8
Fort Dale Academy 4, Bessemer Academy 1
Clarke Prep School 7, Monroe Academy 2
Macon East Academy 13, Glenwood School 8
Lee-Scott Academy 10, Springwood School 1
Springwood School 13, Fort Dale Academy 5
Clarke Prep School 8, Glenwood School 7
Macon East Academy 8, Lee-Scott Academy 6
Clarke Prep School 7, Springwood School 6
Lee-Scott Academy 5, Clarke Prep School 0
Finals: Macon East Academy 8, Lee-Scott Academy 7 (Macon East wins AAA championship)