North Jackson wins third Jackson County Softball title in five seasons
Story By Jason Bowen
Josie Thompson had some heartbreaking moments in her title quests in the Jackson County Softball Tournament as North Jackson player.
But her first county tournament as her alma mater’s head coach was a different story.
The first-year Chiefs head coach led her team to a 3-0 mark in the 2026 Jackson County Softball Tournament, including a 5-3 win over defending county champion Pisgah in the finals Saturday afternoon at Section High School. The game was played under a 90-minute time limit.
It was North Jackson’s third all-time county title, first since 2023 and third in the past five seasons.
“This feels really good. It’s
hard to explain the feeling,” said Thompson, a former all-state North Jackson pitcher who pitched collegiately at Wallace State-Hanceville and UAH. “Had a lot of times when we were wanting to get to this (as a player). To get there as a coach, it feels really good. I’m just proud of them. Proud to coach them. I hope we build off of this.”
North Jackson defeated North Sand Mountain 3-1 in Friday’s winners bracket quarterfinals before edging Pisgah 3-1 in the winners bracket final and again in the championship round following the Eagles 5-0 elimination bracket final victory over Skyline.
Senior pitcher and Snead State signee Darcy McClendon was the winning pitcher in all three North Jackson victories, including in the finals in which she allowed three runs (one earned) on three hits and one walk while recording seven strikeouts.
“She was awesome,” Thompson said. “She got ahead in counts, trusted her spin. She’s just a competitor. She’s one of those that just has that grit.”
Three North Jackson errors gave Pisgah a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Eagles repaid the favor as an error kept the Chiefs half of the first going, ultimately leading to McClendon scoring two batters after reaching on a single before Josie McClendon’s RBI triple put the Chiefs in front 2-1. Kinley Burton’s RBI single pushed the Chiefs’ lead to 3-1 in the second inning, and North Jackson (8-3) upped its advantage to 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth when Darcy McClendon singled and ultimately scored on a passed ball before Allie Benson scored on Kayleigh Greenway’s sacrifice.
Campbell Barron singled to start the sixth inning for Pisgah and scored when Jimah Stevens reached on a North Jackson error, and Stevens scored on Addison Schultz’s RBI groundout. Addi Bradshaw then doubled to bring the tying run to the plate for Pisgah (6-3), but Darcy McClendon struck out the next two Eagles to end the game.
“I won county my freshman year and then we got to come up here my senior year and win it again, so that feels great,” Darcy McClendon said. “We had good chemistry today and everybody was ready to play. It hope it helps us get hot and stay hot.”
Burton and Darcy McClendon finished with two hits each for North Jackson while Benson and Josie McClendon had one hit and one walk each.
Barron, Bradshaw and Rylan Lawson had one hit each for Pisgah while Bradshaw allowed just two earned runs and over five innings pitched.
“Darcy threw really well. We made some adjustments late, we just waited too late,” said Pisgah head coach Hannah Metz. “If we play behind our pitcher (defensively) early that changes momentum maybe. But at the end of the day, we just didn’t play good enough. In time, we’ll be playing better. I hope these games help us out in the long run. I’m proud for Josie. Josie is a good friend of mine — we played together in college (at Wallace State). North Jackson is a really good team and they did a great job.”
Here are the recaps for all 2026 Jackson County Softball Tournament games, which prior to the championship finals were played with a 75-minute time limit:
Winners Bracket Quarterfinals
Section 2, Skyline 1 — The Lions pushed across what proved to be the game-winning run in the top of the third inning.
Section took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Zella Johnson’s RBI single, but Skyline tied it during its half of the first on Maddux Wininger’s RBI double. The Lions regained the lead in the third inning when Jenna Luse doubled, went to third base on Kaley Kennamer’s single and scored on Ava Harper’s RBI groundout.
Kennamer finished 2-for-2 for Section, which got one hit each from Harper, Johnson, Luse and Georgia Knopps.
Randi Boynton got the win in the pitching circle, allowing one run on four hits while recording seven strikeouts. Hadley Epps recorded seven strikeouts in the circle for Skyline, which also got a double from Epps and singles from Bailey Fisk, Brinlynn Stephens and Bentlee Romans.
NSM 7, Woodville 0 — Three North Sand Mountain pitchers combined on a five-inning no-hitter.
Arianna Hamilton, Madylin Johnson and Kaleigh Roberts recorded six, four and two strikeouts respectively for NSM.
Meanwhile, Kendall Williams and Kyree Shankles both went 2-for-3 for the Bison at the plate while Roberts and Johnson had one hit and one RBI and Alexia Kirkpatrick had one hit.
Winners Bracket Semifinals
Pisgah 8, Section 2 — The Eagles opened up an 8-0 lead after four innings en route to the win.
Jimah Stevens went 2-for-3, Briley Caperton had a double and two RBIs and Rylan Lawson had one hit, an RBI and scored three runs for Pisgah, which also got one hit and one RBI each from Jalen Reed and Ellie Reed and one hit from Addison Schultz.
Lori Jones struck out nine over 5 2/3 innings pitched to get the win.
Zella Johnson finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs for Section while Kayley Machen and Ava Harper had one hit each.
North Jackson 3, NSM 1 — The Chiefs rallied to advance to the winners’ bracket final with a three-run four inning.
Josie McClendon singled and Allie Benson walked to start the inning, and North Jackson took a 2-1 lead when both scored on Ally Ferguson’s one-out two-run double. The Chiefs then got an RBI single from Malloree Grider to up its lead to 3-1.
Ferguson finished with one hit and two RBIs while Grider (RBI), Josie McClendon and Millee Grider had one hit each. Darcy McClendon pitched 3 2/3 innings in relief and posted two strikeouts to get the win.
Kaleigh Roberts, Madylin Johnson, Cara Summerford and Kyree Shankles had one hit each for NSM.
Elimination Bracket Quarterfinals
Section 14, Woodville 2 — The Lions advanced in the elimination bracket with the win over Woodville (statistics unavailable).
Skyline 2, NSM 1 — The Vikings rallied from early deficit to edge NSM and advance in the elimination bracket.
NSM took a 1-0 lead on Kendall Williamson’s RBI single in the top of the first inning. Skyline tied in the second on Brinlynn Stephen’s RBI triple before scoring what proved to be the winning run in the third inning when Christa Manning doubled, went to third base on Hadley Epps’ groundout and scored on Adalyn Bellomy’s RBI sacrifice fly.
Stephens finished 2-for-2 with an RBI for the Vikings while Manning and Bailey Fisk had one hit each.
Bentlee Romans got the win in the circle, allowing one run on three hits and two walks while recording five strikeouts over five innings pitched. Williamson finished with seven strikeouts while allowing just two runs on four hits for NSM.
Roberts closed 2-for-3 at the plate for NSM (4-4-1) while Williamson had an RBI single.
Winners Bracket Final
North Jackson 3, Pisgah 1 — The Chiefs edged Pisgah in the international tiebreaker format to advance to the county championship.
With Peyton Malley placed on second base to start the inning and Alley Benson aboard on a two-out walk, Ally Ferguson put the Chiefs in front with an RBI double.
Kinley Burton finished 2-for-2 with an RBI single for North Jackson while Benson, Ferguson and Darcy McClendon had one hit each. McClendon recorded four strikeouts while posting the complete-game win in the pitching circle.
Campbell Barron finished 2-for-3 for Pisgah, which got one hit each from Briley Caperton, Addison Schultz, Jimah Stevens, Addi Bradshaw and Jalen Reed.
Elimination Bracket Semifinal
Skyline 13, Section 2 — The Vikings scored in every inning en route to advancing to the elimination bracket final.
Hadley Epps finished 3-for-4 with a triple, a double and three RBI and Adalyn Bellomy was 3-for-3 with a two doubles and an RBI for the Vikings while Adasah Haswell was 2-for-2 with two doubles and three RBIs, Maddux Wininger was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Brinlynn Stephens was 2-for-2 with three run scored. The Vikings also got a two-run home run and had three RBIs in all from Christa Manning as well as one hit each from Claire Wallingsford and Bailey Fisk.
Bentlee Romans pitched two innings and struck out four to get the win. Epps had three strikeouts while pitching 1 2/3 innings.
London Robertson tripled and scored a run for Section (4-8).
Elimination Bracket Final
Pisgah 5, Skyline 0 — The Eagles scored in but one inning en route to returning the championship round.
Pisgah finished with 10 hits, getting two each from Addison Schultz (two RBIs), Rylan Lawson, Campbell Barron and Addi Bradshaw (RBI) and one each from Jimah Stevens and Taylor Bell.
Lori Jones pitched a complete-game four-hit shutout for the Eagles. The eighth-grader had five strikeouts.
Maddux Wininger doubled for Skyline (3-7-1) while Claire Wallingsford, Adasah Haswell and Bentlee Romans all singled.
