By East Alabama Sports Today
MONTGOMERY – The day might have been sloppy but the Alexandria softball team was sharp.
The Lady Cubs arrived at the Class 5A East Regional with hot bats and hot pitching and won their two games at Lagoon Park Wednesday handily, beating Douglas 15-0 in three innings and Ramsay 15-1 in five. Ashley Phillips homered in both games and Rylee Gattis pitched both, giving up one run, four hits and striking out 17 in eight innings.
“It was better than I thought we’d do today,” Alexandria coach Brian Hess said. “We played well last week in the area tournament, we just didn’t swing the bat well. I attribute that to having 12 days off. Rylee was fresh and good. Today, we had a little more confidence at the plate, took extra bases when we needed to, just played well.”
The Lady Cubs will play either Sardis in Thursday’s winners bracket final at 1:45 p.m. The winner earns a spot in the state tournament at Choccolocco Park, while the loser will have to fight its way through the elimination bracket to secure a spot. There is no championship game.
“Getting to the state is the ultimate goal,” Hess said, “but to get to the state and it being right down the road and you don’t have to spend any money on rooms and can sleep in your bed … is something special and something we hope to be able to do.”
The Lady Cubs took control of the Douglas game with a 12-run second inning. The first 11 batters of the inning reach base and 16 batted total in the inning. Jill Cockrell and Christian Hess both had two hits in the game, Phillips, Cockrell and Gattis each had two RBIs.
Daisy Bowie swung a big bat in the nightcap from the 9-hole. She went 4-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Bowie and Phillips hit back-to-back homers in the third inning.
“I’m glad to see that,” Hess said. “She didn’t get a chance to do it last year (because of the COVID cancelation), but every year about April she turns it on. She struggles the first half of the season and then around the County Tournament she turns it on. She’s swinging it well. When she’s doing that it’s almost like having two leadoffs with her at 9 and Ashley (at 1). Hopefully, she’s stay hot.”
Gattis and Cockrell had three hits apiece and Addie Jennings had two hits and two RBIs.
Ramsay reached the game by upsetting Clay Central in its opener 5-4. The Lady Vols bounced back to eliminate Douglas 7-0.
JCA splits pair in 1A
Jacksonville Christian got contributions from throughout the lineup in beating Gaylesville 7-4 to stay alive after falling into the elimination bracket via an 18-6 loss to Woodland.
Erin Prater, Hannah Clayton, Rebekah Carter and Kara Grace all had two hits in the Gaylesville game. Krymson Clay threw a complete game with three strikeouts.
Carter went 3-for-3 in the opener, missing only a homer of hitting for the cycle.
The Lady Thunder will play the Ragland-Cedar Bluff loser at 10:45 a.m. Thursday.
Sports Powered by East Alabama Sports Today.
