SPRING PREPS: Park Crossing baseball earns playoff bid; LAMP boys tennis finish second in state
STAFF REPORT
Park Crossing 3, G.W. Carver 2
Terry Ware’s two-out double drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh to give Park Crossing the final spot in the upcoming 6A state baseball playoffs with a 3-2 victory over G.W. Carver in a 6A Area 3 battle for the final playoff berth at Park Crossing on Tuesday afternoon.
Park Crossing (9-9) will travel to Area 6 champion Helena (15-12) in the first round of the 6A state playoffs on Friday.
Tony Fleming had staked the Wolverines to a 2-0 lead before the Thunderbirds rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Park Crossing, which had managed only one hit to that point, got a single from Isaiah Johnson, who was replaced by pinch runner X’zavier Greathouse, and another from catcher Jadarian Callaway, who was replaced by courtesy runner Jaiden McDade.
Matthew Pettway drew a walk to load the bases before Marcus Smith made an out. Ware followed with the biggest hit of the season for the Thunderbirds, clearing the bases in walk-off fashion to send the Thunderbirds into the playoffs.
Ware (2 for 3), Johnson and Callaway had the only hits for the Thunderbirds, while Demarrion Lee pitched the first four innings for Park Crossing, allowing just two runs, before Smith picked up the win in relief, allowing just one hit.
Jamar Green went 2 for 3 for Carver, while Fleming went 2 for 2 along with a pair of walks. Kenson Webb went 1 for 4 with two RBIs.
Prattville 6, Greenville 5
PRATTVILLE -- Andy Hall’s leadoff, walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh helped the Lions close out their home finale on a winning note in a 6-5 win over the 5A Tigers at Roger Lambert Field on Tuesday.
The Lions played from behind most of the game. Drew Brown scored on an error in the bottom of the first to make it 1-1 and again in the third on an infield fly to close the deficit to 4-2. Tanner Vance singled in Braxton Piper in the fourth to trim the Tigers’ lead to 4-3 and Campbell Seamon singled and later scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 4-4 in the fifth.
Slade Wood followed with a sacrifice fly to drive in Travis Stauter for a 5-4 lead and after the Tigers tied the game in the sixth, Hall won the game in the seventh with his sixth home run of the year.
Chandler Gibbs started the game for the Lions and went 1.1 innings, allowing four hits and two runs, one earned, while walking two and striking out two. Will Baskin threw 3.2 innings of relief, giving up a pair of unearned runs on a hit and two walks while striking out two, and Calin Tate added 1.1 innings of one-hit, one-run relief. Grant Williams (4-0) entered with a runner on second and one out in the seventh and retired the next two batters to pick up the win.
Prattville (27-4) will travel to Smiths Station this Saturday for a doubleheader with the Panthers and Russell County beginning at noon EDT to end the regular season.
Softball
PCA 3, Maplesville 1
MAPLESVILLE - Lara Beth Nesmith threw a no hitter with 17 strikeouts to lead the Panthers to the win on Monday.
Sarah Williams was 2 for 3 with an RBI while Brinkley Sailors was 2 for 3. Jersee Carter was 2 for 4. Kandice Crosby added a single and one RBI.
PCA (21-8) hosts LAMP on Thursday.
BOYS TENNIS
LAMP finishes second to Madison Academy again
MOBILE -- For the second consecutive year, the 4A-5A state tennis championship came down to the final match and for the second consecutive year, Madison Academy took home the championship trophy and LAMP suffered a heartbreaking loss.
After losing to Madison Academy in a tiebreaker last year, the Golden Tigers returned to the Mobile Tennis Center on Tuesday looking for revenge, but suffered a similar fate as Madison Academy earned 65 points to LAMP’s 62 to win the title. St. James finished in third with 47.
Madison Academy clinched the title with the help of the Jacques brothers as Parker Jacques defeated LAMP’s Edward Lee 7-5, 6-1 at No. 1 singles, Houston Jacques defeated John Carroll’s Josh Whitman 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2 singles and the brothers teamed up at No. 1 doubles to defeat the LAMP duo of Edward Lee and Wonjun Lee in the semifinals and Toba Rios and Josh Harvey of St. James 6-0, 6-0, in the finals.
LAMP reached the finals in five of the six singles matches. Ian Shin defeated Madison Academy’s Sam Fulkerson 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3; Wonjun Lee defeated Jacob Hume of Lees 6-1, 7-5 at No. 4; Sun-ho Kim defeated Ryan Jeong of St. James 6-1, 6-4 at No. 5; and Richard Chen reached the finals before losing to Madison Academy’s Joe Allen 5-7, 2-6.
In No. 2 doubles, Ian Kim and Ian Shim teamed up to lead LAMP to a championship win over John Carroll’s Fletcher Harvey and Aiden Van Matre, 6-1, 6-0. At No. 3 doubles, Madison Academy’s Grady Byrne and Allen defeated Danny Trock and Grayson Eaves of St. James, 6-1, 6-2.
Catholic finishes as 1A-3A runner-up to Houston Academy
The Knights’ Cooper Davis and Sebastian Sayegh defeated Ryen Walker and Grason Paulus of Whitesburg Christian, 7-5, 6-3 to win the No. 1 doubles title in the 1A-3A state tennis championships at Lagoon Park Tennis Center on Tuesday.
Houston Academy won the boys’ title with 54 points, followed by Catholic with 30. The Raiders will move up to 4A-5A next season due to Competitive Balance Factor, while Catholic will remain in 1A-3A.
In singles, Davis reached the No. 1 semifinals before losing to Walker, while Sayegh lost in the No. 2 finals to Houston Academy’s Andrew Ayodeji 4-6, 6-2, 5-10. At No. 3, Catholic’s Mark Osten lost in the finals to Houston Academy’s Brody Williams 4-6, 4-6. Catholic’s David Huston lost in the No. 4 semifinals, while No. 5 Peter Walski and No. 6 Stephen Underwood lost in the first round.
In doubles, Osten-Huston lost in the No. 2 semifinals to Caleb Ray and Herrington Hobbs of T.R. Miller and Walski-Underwood lost in the No. 3 semifinals to Wesley Eyrich and Porter Lunsford of Westminster-Oak Mountain.
GIRLS TENNIS
LAMP sixth, St. James 11th, Pike Road 12th in 4A-5A championships
MOBILE -- Local teams didn’t advance to the 4A-5A tennis championships, but individuals represented their schools, helping LAMP to a sixth-place finish with 29 points while St. James finished 11th (with 11 points) and Pike Road was 12th (with 10 points).
Randolph earned 59 points to win the 4A-5A championship.
Among the local performers reaching the quarterfinals or better was Pike Road’s Sydney Cohen, who reached the quarterfinals at No. 1 singles and teamed with Emma Jane Strickland to reach the quarterfinals in No. 1 doubles to earn the Patriots 10 points.
At. No. 2 singles, LAMP’s Reena Chen reached the semifinals before losing. At No. 4, LAMP’s Dabeen Choi won the championship match by rallying past Jayden Johnson of Sardis, 2-6, 6-4, 10-7. In No. 3 doubles, Dabeen Choi and Hanna Baik of LAMP reached the championship round before falling to Madeline Cooper and Leah Rushing of Russellville 7-6, 2-6, 4-10.
At No. 5 singles, Karly Bailey of St. James won her championship match by defeating Karmin Luders of St. John Paul II, 6-1, 6-1. At No. 3 doubles, Dylan Oliver and Addison Seale reached the quarterfinal round before losing.
BOYS SOCCER
Trinity 4, Houston Academy 2
DOTHAN -- Jackson Champion led the Wildcats to victory on the road with four goals to give Trinity the 1A-3A Area 2 championship with a 4-2 win at Houston Academy on Tuesday.
Grayden Flowers and Josh Hixon assisted Champion on the goals.
Trinity (15-2) will travel to Enterprise to play the Wildcats on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Prattville Christian 12-11, Autaugaville 1-0
PRATTVILLE -- Prattville Christian played a pair of area games with Autaugaville on Tuesday, defeating the Eagles 12-1 and 11-0 to improve to 4-0 in area play.
In the first game, Trey Barkley had six goals and three assists to lead the Panthers. Cohen Palmore added two assists and a goal and Joshua Forte and Liam Taylor each had one assist and one goal. Drew Stephenson, Kyle Zerkel and Connor Sikes each scored a goal. Chase Gay had an assist.
In the second game, Barkley tallied five assists and one goal to help the Panthers to an 11-0 win.
Gay and Palmore each scored two goals, Sikes had a goal and an assist and Forte, Taylor, Stephenson, Adam Grier and Carson Wright each scored a goal.
Grier recorded the shutout in goal.
PCA (6-6-1) will travel to Montgomery to play Catholic next Tuesday in their final game of the regular season.
GIRLS SOCCER
Trinity 3, Houston Academy 1
DOTHAN -- Ansley Claire Addison, Hastings Avant and Katherine Warren each scored a goal to lead the Wildcats to a hard-fought 3-1 win over Houston Academy in 1A-3A Area 2 play on Tuesday.
Warren and Mary Alice Sasser had assists to help the Wildcats remain in first play in Area 2 play at 5-1 with home matches remaining against New Brockton on Friday and Houston Academy.
Prattville Christian 3, Wetumpka 0
PRATTVILLE -- Emily Branch had a pair of goals and CoCo Thomas added another as the Panthers defeated the 6A Indians 3-0 at Panther Stadium on Tuesday night.
Kendall Jordan recorded the shutout in goal.
PCA (6-4-1) will host Marbury on Friday night.