AHSAA SOFTBALL TOURNAMENTS: Scottsboro edges Arab to win fifth consecutive area championship

Story By Jason Bowen

The Scottsboro softball program’s reign as an area tournament champion is now half a decade old.

The top-seeded and No. 7-ranked Wildcats got a pair of run-scoring hits from junior Shila Wadkins and a strong pitching performance from seventh-grader Adriana Colon to defeat second-seeded Arab 2-0 in the Class 5A Area 15 Tournament finals Monday night.

It was the fifth consecutive area tournament title for Scottsboro (27-14-1).

“This was a competitive area tournament and we made some things happen in order to win it,” said Scottsboro head coach Jeff Campbell, whose team posted a 16-0 opening win over fourth-seeded Guntersville before a getting 6-5 walk-off win over Arab in the winners bracket final Saturday night. “Arab’s got a really good team that’s getting better every day.”

In Monday’s rematch, Scottsboro took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when NACC signee Morgan Perkins was hit by a pitch to start the inning and scored on Wadkins’ RBI single, and the Wildcats added another run in the fifth when NACC signee Austin McNeece doubled and scored on Wadkins’ RBI double.

Wadkins finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs while McNeece and Anna Clair Crocker both doubled and walked and Colon and Lana Emanuel both singled.

McNeece was named the Class 5A Area 15 Tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tournament team by Wadkins, Perkins, Colon and Addyson Crumbly, who had the game-winning hit in the winners bracket final.

Colon got the win in the circle, pitching a three-hit shutout with five strikeouts. She had five walks, though three of them were intentional walks to Arab slugger Lily Livingston. Colon also pitched out of two bases-loaded jams to preserve the shutout.

“The big thing when you’re that young pitching (on the varsity level), it’s maintaining control. She was hitting her spots,” said Campbell of Colon, who was the winning pitcher in all three of Scottsboro’s area tournament games. “These last couple of weeks, she’s not been walking people. She pitched 11 2/3 innings (in the tournament) and didn’t allow a single run. She’s got a big future in front of her.”

Next up for Scottsboro is the Class 5A North Regional. The double-elimination format tournament is Monday and Tuesday at O’Neal Park in Florence. The Wildcats play Area 13 runner-up Sardis in an opening-round game Monday at 10:45 a.m. with the winner/loser playing Ardmore or Russellville at 3:15 p.m. The other first-round games are No. 5 Boaz vs. Arab and No. 3 Lawrence County vs. Priceville. The top-two finishers in the regional advance to the Class 5A State Softball Tournament May 12-13 in Oxford.

Winners Bracket Final

Scottsboro 6, Arab 5 — The Wildcats won in walk-off fashion thanks to Crumbly’s game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Class 5A Area 15 Tournament’s winners bracket final on Saturday.

After two scoreless innings, Scottsboro scored four runs in the bottom of the third on two-run singles by Wadkins and Crocker before upping its lead to 5-0 on Wadkins’ RBI single in the fifth. After Arab scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game, McNeece drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh. After moving to second on a Wadkins’ single, McNeece scored on Crumbly’s walk-off RBI single to right field.

Wadkins finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and Crumbly went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Wildcats, who also got one hit, two walks and three runs from McNeece and one hit each from Crocker (two RBIs), Perkins, Emanuel and Ava Grace Long.

Colon pitched the final 1 2/3 innings in relief (two strikeouts) and picked up the win.

Winners Bracket Semifinals

Scottsboro 16, Guntersville 0 — The Wildcats scored nine runs in the bottom of the first inning and seven in the second to notch the three-inning mercy-rule shortened opening-round victory.

McNeece went 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs, Long was 2-for-2 with a double and three RBIs and Wadkins was 2-for-3 with a double and four RBIs for Scottsboro, which also got one hit and two RBIs from Crocker, one hit, two walks and one RBI from Crumbly, one hit, one walk and one RBI from both Perkins and Ali Jones, one hit and one RBI from Colon and two walks and one RBI from Jurney Hutchins.

Colon got the win in the circle, allowing no hits and recording six strikeouts over three innings pitched.