Calhoun County, AL – Alexandria sweeps Lawrence County to reach third round. Piedmont, Donoho fall in Thursday’s second-round Alabama High School Athletic Association baseball playoff games, Friday’s pairings.
Second round results, pairings
CLASS 6A
Oxford at Buckhorn
Friday, 5 & 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 1 p.m. (if necessary)
CLASS 5A
Alexandria 10-2, Lawrence County 3-0. Alexandria advances.
Springville at Southside
Friday, 5 & 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, 1 p.m. (if necessary)
CLASS 4A
Bibb County at Munford
Friday, 4:30 & 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, 1 p.m. (if necessary)
CLASS 3A
Fayette County 12-10, Piedmont 2-1. Fayette County advances
CLASS 2A
Whitesburg Christian 12-13, Donoho 4-0. Whitesburg Christian advances
MOULTON — A week after pitching a perfect game against Douglas, Tripp Patterson pitched a one-hitter Thursday as top-ranked Alexandria finished off a second-round playoff sweep at Lawrence County.
Alexandria won Game 1 10-3 and Game 2 2-0, advancing to the third round for the second time in three years. The Valley Cubs (26-9) will play their third-round series at Sardis (21-11), which swept Madison Academy 11-1 and 5-0 on Thursday.
“When the brackets came out and I saw them back in June, July, this is right where I thought we’d be,” Alexandria coach Zac Welch said.
Patterson struck out 14 batters with three walks in Thursday’s Game 2. He’s given up one hit in two playoff outings.
“Tripp goes out there and does Tripp things,” Welch said. “He throws three balls for strikes, and I’m just glad he’s on my team.”
Ian Cartwright went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Ty Brown was 1-for-2 with an RBI to give Patterson all the run support he would need.
Andrew Allen posted another strong outing in Game 1, striking out nine batters while allowing five hits and two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. Samuel Henegar got the final two outs in relief.
Alexandria got home runs from Aiden Brunner, Bray Goode, Samuel Henegar and Eli Barnes. Goode and Henegar had three RBIs apiece, and Brunner and Barnes had two apiece.
“First game, our offense really showed up,” Welch said. “We felt good with Andrew on the mound, and out offense got the energy in the dugout on a high level.
“Lawrence was fired up, but our guys handled it well.”
WHITESBURG CHRISTIAN 12-13, DONOHO 4-0: Donoho finished 13-14 with its earliest playoff exit since 2018.
The Falcons’ highlight came in the fifth inning of Game 1, when Peyton Webb and Hayes Farrell homered to bring them within 5-3.
Whitesburg Christian answered with six runs in the top of the sixth.
‘In the playoffs, stuff tends to happen like that where you kick it around on defense,” Donoho coach Steve Gendron said. “I mean, that’s been our kryptonite all year. We pitch it well enough, but we’ve got to be able to make plays.
“I think we kind of fell apart on defense, and then they hit the ball. … I thought we were peaking at the right time, and they might be peaking at the right time.”
Thursday’s games marked the finales for Webb and senior classmates Blake Sewell and Richard Goad.
“I’ve really enjoyed being here,” Webb said. “I was shocked whenever I transferred here and saw the success we were having.
“We’re really close as a team. I just hope it stays that way.”
FAYETTE COUNTY 12-10, PIEDMONT 2-1: Piedmont finished 22-13 in the high school finales of seniors Grayson Hare, Jacob Haynes, Cain Hendon, Jacob McElroy, McClane Mohon, Jonah Pike and Trevor Pike.
“I am really proud of this bunch,” Piedmont coach Matt Deerman said. “I thought they overachieved in many ways throughout the season and found some ways to beat some good teams.
“How it ended is obviously disappointing, but the ball literally did not bounce our way at all today. Fayette has an extremely talented team that has definitely gotten hot at the right time.”
Donoho takes on Whitsburg Christian in a second-round Class 2A Alabama High School Athletic Association playoff series.
Photos by Joe Medley
