Story By Jason Bowen
The Scottsboro softball team is returning to the Class 5A State Tournament.
The No. 7-ranked Wildcats erased an early two-run deficit with a four-run fifth inning to defeat No. 3 Lawrence County 4-3 Tuesday at the Florence Sportsplex’s O’Neal Park and claim the AHSAA Class 5A North Regional’s No. 1 State Tournament Qualifier position.
It’s the Wildcats’ second state-tournament appearance in the past three seasons and the program’s sixth overall.
“We’re there,” said Scottsboro head coach Jeff Campbell of the Wildcats’ state tournament berth. “Not a lot of people outside of us expected us to be there, but that’s been our goal all along. We played really well against Sardis, well enough against Russellville and played really, really well against Lawrence County. We’re playing our best ball right now. We’re going to go down (to Oxford) and try to make a splash.”
Scottsboro (30-14-1) plays No. 1-ranked Springville in the opening round of the Class 5A State Tournament Monday at 9 a.m. at Choccolocco Park in Oxford. Springville was the East Regional’s No. 2 State Qualifier.
The Scottsboro-Springville winners/losers play either South Regional No. 1 Qualifier fourth-ranked Houston Academy or Central Regional No. 2 Qualifier Beauregard Monday at 12:30 p.m. Other opening-round matchups in the double-elimination Class 5A State Softball Tournament are Central Regional No. 1 Qualifier Brewbaker Tech vs. South Regional No. 2 Qualifier Faith Academy and East Regional No. 1 Qualifier second-ranked Moody vs. North Regional No. 2 Qualifier fifth-ranked Boaz.
Scottsboro went 3-0 in the North Regional, defeating Sardis 9-0 and Russellville 3-2 on Monday to advance to the State Qualifier No. 1 Game matchup with Lawrence County, which took 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on L.A. Norwood’s two-run double. It stayed that way until the top of the fifth when Lana Emanuel (fielder’s choice) and Morgan Perkins (singled) scored on Shila Wadkins’ two-run double to tie the game, and the Wildcats then got an RBI double from Addyson Crumbly and an RBI single by Anna Claire Crocker to take a 4-2 lead. Lawrence County scored a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Scottsboro lead to 4-3, and after being retired in order in the sixth, put the lead-off batter on in the bottom of the seventh. But Crocker retired the next three batters in order to end the game and send Lawrence County to the North Regional’s Class 5A No. 2 State Qualifier Game where it fell to Boaz 6-5.
“We finally had the big inning where everybody was hitting,” said Campbell, whose team is 9-0-1 over its last 10 games. “Then we were able to hold them off the rest of the way. Anna Claire pitched a great game. When’s she on she makes batters hit pitches she wants them to hit, and our defense played great behind her.”
Crocker pitched a complete game for the Wildcats. The senior allowed three runs on seven hits and one walk while recording two strikeouts. At the plate, Perkins finished 2-for-4 with a run scored while Wadkins (two RBIs), Crumbly (RBI), Crocker (RBI), Austin McNeece, Journey Hutchins and Ava Grace Long had one hit each.
MONDAY
Scottsboro 9, Sardis 0 — Seventh-grade pitcher Adriana Colon pitched a two-hit shutout as the Wildcats opened the North Regional with a convincing win.
Colon finished with seven strikeouts and only one walk while throwing 61 of her 82 pitches for strikes.
McNeece’s RBI double and Crumbly’s RBI fielder’s choice gave Scottsboro a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, and the grew to 4-0 in the third on RBI sacrifice flies by Ali Jones and Hutchins. McNeece added an RBI single to start the Wildcats’ four-run fourth inning, which also included another RBI fielder’s choice by Crumbly, Crocker’s two-run triple and Jones’ RBI sacrifice fly.
Crocker finished 4-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBIs while Perkins (two stolen bases), McNeece (two RBIs) and Wadkins each had two hits and scored two runs.
Scottsboro 3, Russellville 2 — The Wildcats held off Russellville’s late rally attempt to advance to the North Regionals Class 5A No. 1 State Qualifier Game.
Perkins singled, stole second base and scored on Crumbly’s RBI bunt single to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Crocker doubled to lead off the fourth inning and scored on Jones’ RBI single, and after Long’s sacrifice bunt moved pinch runner Keira Baker to second base, Emanuel delivered an RBI single for a 3-0 Scottsboro lead. Three straight two-out hits pulled Russellville to within 3-2 in the top of the seventh, but the Golden Tigers’ next batter grounded out to end the game.
