Calhoun County, AL – White Plains roars back to win classic game against Pleasant Valley; top seed Piedmont manufactures a run to win pitchers dual with Jacksonville; Oxford, Alexandria advance in winners’ bracket
By Joe Medley
Tiffany Williams is a first-year head coach, but Tuesday’s Calhoun County tourney action showed she has the attention of her White Plains players. A pregame talk about handling adversity served the Wildcats well, as they battled back from a six-run deficit to beat Pleasant Valley 7-6 and advance to Wednesday’s winners’ bracket semifinals at Woodland Park. White Plains will play top seed Piedmont at 4 p.m. Fifth-seeded Pleasant Valley jumped out to the lead with a 6-run top of the first inning, which included home runs by Haylie Lee and Emma Harvey.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats had a situation. “That was our conversation before the game started and then, obviously, after the first inning,” Williams said. “The last couple of games, we would make an error or do the little things wrong, and we would get down and not come back from it. “The conversation I had before the game was, ‘Look, I’m not asking you to be perfect. I’m asking to do the little things, and if something happens, you have to stay up.”
Williams had a similar conversation with the Wildcats after Pleasant Valley’s game-opening at bat, and White Plains responded with its own 6-run first inning, featuring home runs by Leighton Arnold, Halie Smith and seventh-grader Karli Otwell. Arnold hit the first homer, validating Williams’ message. “It changed everybody to like we’re confident we can win this,” Otwell said. Smith hit her first homer of the season, and Otwell hit a three-run shot. “I was kind of nervous since I just moved up to varsity,” Otwell said.
The game stayed 6-6 until the final at bat. Arnold laid down a bunt, and Williams sent Cooper Martin home from second base. “I sent her,” Williams said. “I almost regretted it after I did, but I did.”
PIEDMONT 1, JACKSONVILLE 0: Piedmont, the county tourney’s top seed for the first time in program history, survived drama to advance to the winners’ bracket semifinals. Jaycee Glover singled, moved to second base on a walk, took third on a passed ball and scored on Jenna Calvert’s ground ball to end the game. “That’s what I told the girls to be prepared for,” Piedmont coach Rachel Smith said. “There’s going to be some difficult and pressure-packed moments in this tournament, and you’re going to have to execute. “I’ve been telling them that for three days, and so here we are. We showed up with a pressure-packed moment right there, tied up 0-0 in the bottom of the inning.” So ended a pitchers’ dual between Piedmont’s Emma Grace Todd and Jacksonville’s Karli Fritts. Todd pitched a one-hitter, striking out seven batters and walking three.
ALEXANDRIA 8, OHATCHEE 1: Pressley Slaton held Ohatchee to four hits with six strikeouts and four walks in four innings, and third seed and defending champion Alexandria advanced to face No. 2 Oxford in Wednesday’s other 4 p.m. winners’ bracket semifinal. Slaton also drove in three runs. Alexandria’s Jill Cockrell homered while going 2-for-3. Clancy Bright went 3-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI. Ellie Carden had two of Ohatchee’s four hits and an RBI. “We did enough to win, but we’ve got a lot of stuff to work on,” Alexandria coach Brian Hess said. “We’re just young. We make dumb mistakes. “We’re just not as seasoned as we’ve been the past few years, but I’ll take it. A win’s a win.”
OXFORD 4, WEAVER 1: Raina Zachery and Berkley Mooney combined to hold Weaver to three hits in five innings, and Mooney struck out six batters in 2 2/3 innings of work. Ashlyn Burns went 2-for-3 with a double, bunt single and two runs. Emma Tims-Becerra had a single and RBI, and Reagan Sanders had two hits and an RBI. “We didn’t make any adjustments until the fourth inning,” Oxford coach Wendy McKibbin said. “Good teams make adjustments, and we struggled a little bit the first three innings. We did a little better in the fourth inning, but it was not our best game.”
Elimination bracket
JACKSONVILLE: The Golden Eagles beat Wellborn 9-4 to start the day then lost 1-0 to Piedmont to end up in the elimination backet. The Golden Eagles beat Saks 15-0 to get to Wednesday’s action and will face Pleasant Valley at 4 p.m. Fritts was a standout on the day. She allowed three hits with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings against Piedmont and held Wellborn to four hits with six strikeouts. She also went 1-for-2 with a run and two RBIs against Wellborn and 3-for-3 with a home run and five RBIS against Saks.
Dailyn Wood was 1-for-3 with a solo home run against Wellborn and 3-for-4 with a triple, three runs and two RBIs against Saks. She also pitched a one-hitter with eight strikeouts against Saks. “I think we can do it,” Jacksonville coach Jessica Oliver said. “We’ve been pretty close to Piedmont. We’ve been pretty close to Pleasant Valley. We would like to have a rematch, definitely.”
PLEASANT VALLEY: The Raiders opened with a 18-0 victory over Faith Christian, suffered the White Plains comeback then beat Jacksonville Christian 22-5 to make it to Wednesday. Pleasant Valley had four home runs on the day … Harvey’s and Lee’s against White Plains and Lily Henry’s and Rebekah Gannaway’s against JCA. Gannaway had four RBIs against JCA, and Henry had three.
Macey Roper went 3-for-3 with two doubles, three runs and two RBIs against JCA. The hit parade against Faith included Gannaway’s triple and four RBIs and Henry’s double and two RBIs. Henry and Lee combined to pitch a no-hitter with nine strikeouts in three innings against Faith. “The game we had with White Plains was just a good softball game,” Pleasant Valley coach David Bryant said. “We punched them in the mouth, and they punched us back in the mouth. It came down to some little things, and they’ve got a good softball team. “I was proud of my girls. We never quit. That’s what I like about this bunch.”
OHATCHEE: The Indians went 2-1, beating Saks 17-0, losing to Alexandria 8-1 and beating Anniston 14-1. They will play Weaver on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Alanah Fitch pitched a no-hitter against Anniston for her first official varsity start in the circle. Hannah Fitch went the distance against Saks. Tabi Davidson and Alyssa Davis each had a home run against Saks. Davidson also had a double and five RBIs, and Davis had a double and two RBIs. Savannah Reaves went 4-for-4 with two triples, two runs and three RBIs.
Against Anniston, Davidson and Whitney McFry had two hits apiece. McFry had a double and three RBIs, and Davidson had a triple and two RBIs. “Before spring break, we got a little cold, but we woke the bats up pretty well today,” Ohatchee coach Kendall Poe said. “We hit really well against Saks. I’m kind of disappointed in our missed opportunities against Alexandria. We had bases loaded twice and had runners on second and third with less than two outs twice and just didn’t really capitalize. “Other than that, we’re excited to be going into Day 2.”
WEAVER: Weaver went 2-1, beating Jacksonville Christian 1-0, losing to Oxford 4-1 and beating Wellborn 13-0. The Bearcats will play Ohatchee on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Weaver led Oxford 1-0 going into the bottom of the third inning. Oxford scored twice in the third and fourth innings. Kinley Marvasty had a single and RBI against Oxford. Annaliese Shirvinski and Alana Cooper each had a hit for Weaver. “I thought we played well today,” Weaver coach Gary Atchley said. “It took us a little while to get going. We finally scratched a run, and I thought we played really good against Oxford. We had a good game plan and pitched well and played good defense. ‘The bats came together about halfway through the Wellborn game. Maybe that’ll carry into tomorrow.”
ANNISTON 24, FAITH CHRISTIAN 2: Lyric Williams struck out four batters and allowed one hit. She also homered, singled and scored four runs as the Bulldogs got their first win of the season. Kiara Thomas went 4-for-4 with a home run and three singles and scored four runs. Layla Tyus homered among her two hits. “I’m pretty proud of the girls,” Anniston coach Brooklyn Garcia said. “They really gave it their all. That was their first big win, period, this year. Any win we’re going to celebrate.” [read more sports stories…]
2023 Calhoun County softball tournament
Tuesday
Woodland Park
Double elimination
First round
No. 7 Weaver 1. No. 10 Jacksonville Christian 0
No. 6 Ohatchee 17, No. 11 Saks 0
No. 4 White Plains 19, No. 13 Anniston 1
No. 5 Pleasant Valley 18, No. 12 Faith Christian 0
No. 8 Jacksonville 9, No. 9 Wellborn 4
Winners’ bracket
No. 2 Oxford 4, Weaver 1
No. 3 Alexandria 8, Ohatchee 1
White Plains 7, Pleasant Valley 6
No. 1 Piedmont 1, Jacksonville 0
Elimination bracket
Anniston 24, Faith Christian 2
Ohatchee 14, Anniston 1
Weaver 13, Wellborn 0
Pleasant Valley 22, JCA 5
Jacksonville 15, Saks 0
Wednesday
Woodland Park
Winners’ bracket semifinals
Oxford vs. Alexandria, 4 p.m.
Piedmont vs. White Plains, 4 p.m.
Winners’ bracket final, 7 p.m.
Elimination bracket
Ohatchee vs. Weaver, 4 p.m.
Pleasant Valley vs. Jacksonville, 4 p.m.
Elimination games TBD, 5:30 and 7 p.m.
Thursday
Jacksonville State University
Elimination bracket final, 4 p.m.
Championship, 6 p.m.
If-necessary game, 8 p.m.
