HARTSELLE – Cullman's baseball coaching staff got a good look at its next opponent in the Alabama High School Athletic Association (AHSAA) Class 6A playoffs.
On Monday, coach Brent Patterson and assistants were among the huge crowd at Reuben Sims Field to see Hueytown defeat Hartselle 7-2 in game three of the quarterfinal series. The Golden Gophers and Cullman battle in the semifinal round with a doubleheader set for Friday at 5 p.m. Game 3, if needed, will be played Saturday with game time TBA.
Two innings was all sixth-ranked Hueytown needed to prevent the latest in the Cullman-Hartselle drama.
A two-run, two-out single by Lucas Howton put the Golden Gophers ahead in the second inning against Hartselle starter Grayson Bray. Dylan Nivens scored on the play as well when Hartselle mishandled a relay throw from center field. The visitors were up 3-0.
Lefty Will Collins kept Hartselle off stride in six innings. The Tigers took themselves out of a good opportunity when Charles Ord tried to take third on a wild pitch and was thrown out to end the second inning.
Hartselle would leave five runners on base in the one-hour, 53-minute contest.
The Tigers narrowed the margin to 3-1 with a run in the fourth on a base hit by Ord, scoring Brady Netherton, who led off with a single. Collins struck out David Easterling to end the fourth with Easterling being the tying run at the time.
A four-run fifth inning by Hueytown broke the game open. The key hit was Slade Tucker with a two-run double while Dillon Watkins and Caleb Johnson had run-scoring singles with the Gophers now in front 7-1.
Hartselle managed a run in its half of the sixth on Netherton getting a single and scoring when the ball hit to short by Garrett Wade ended up in a throwing error. The Tigers left a couple of runners on and were down to one inning, trailing 7-2.
Austin Hawsey relieved Collins in the seventh, giving up a single, before he set down three in a row to send Hueytown to the semifinals with a 33-6 record. Hartselle concludes the year at 29-21 and is the only 6A team in the AHSAA to beat Cullman in the regular season.
The Gophers face a Cullman team that is undefeated in the playoffs at 6-0, 35-7 overall and will bring strong pitching that has allowed only four runs in six games and a timely hitting, featuring Noah Fondren, Owen Lovell, Jacob Heatherly, Levi Thomas, Carter Bowen and Wheeler Eastman.
At stake is a trip to Montgomery for the AHSAA championship series against the winner of the Helena-Hillcrest series. The 6A championship will be played the weekend of May 19-20 in the capital city.
