Alexandria pulls down No. 4 seed in Gulf Coast Classic bracket round, Pleasant Valley seeded 21
Gulf Coast Classic II
Alexandria 5, Curry 0
Lincoln 10, Addison 3
Pleasant Valley 10, Jonesboro 2
Wynne (Ark.) 11, Jacksonville 1
GULF SHORES – Alexandria has been rewarded for a solid run through its pool with a No. 4 seed in Wednesday’s single-loss bracket play of the Gulf Coast Classic II tournament.
The Lady Cubs completed a 4-0 run through its pool with a 5-0 victory over Curry Tuesday. They will await the winner of the Goodpasture (Tenn.)-North Little Rock (Ark.) game in their 1:15 p.m. Sweet 16 game.
“I’m just glad to be in a position to be there because there are usually some really good teams here,” Lady Cubs coach Brian Hess said. “That middle of the pack, you don’t want to be in there because there are a lot of good ones you have to fight through.”
Pleasant Valley and Lincoln also made it to bracket play. PV is seeded No. 21 and will play No. 12 Sumiton Christian at 9:45 a.m. Lincoln is seeded No. 25 and will play No. 8 Yorkville (Ill.) at 8 a.m.
Alexandria (21-2) and PV (13-7) are in the same pod and could meet in a 3 p.m. Elite Eight game. All three local teams are on the same side of the bracket.
The Lady Cubs are one of six teams that went through pool play 4-0. Hewitt-Trussville, Wetumpka and Silverdale Baptist (Tenn.) are the top three seeds.
Alexandria defeated its four pool opponents by a combined score of 33-6. It pitched two shutouts.
“We’re playing real well right now,” Hess said. “We got good innings out of all three pitchers, played really good defensively and got a lot of good timely hitting throughout the order. Ashley (Phillips) has been the most consistent, and Jill (Cockrell), but 1 through 9 have been providing some offense.”
Ashley Phillips and Rylee Gattis led the Lady Cubs against Curry. Gattis tossed a five-inning three-hit shutout with four strikeouts and went 3-for-3 with two RBIs at the plate. Phillips went 2-for-3 with a double, homer and two RBIs. Addie Jennings also had two hits for Alexandria.
Phillips is 8-for-11 with 11 RBIs in four tournament games.
“The tear Ashley’s been on, she’s just been wearing the ball out,” Hess said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, the different styles of pitching is not fazing her. She’s locked in as good as I’ve seen her.
“To me, she seems more relaxed this year. In years past she may have pressed a little more, but it’s like it’s her senior year she’s going to have fun doing it.”
Pleasant Valley completed its pool schedule with a 10-2 victory over Jonesboro to finish 2-2 in the pool.
The Lady Raiders sent 13 batters to the plate in the second inning and scored eight runs on five hits and six walks.
Haylie Lee went 3-for-3 with three RBIs, Rylee Haynes went 2-for-2, and Gracee Ward and Kaydence Griffin both drove in two runs. [*** read more]
