JASPER – Cullman's time visiting Valley Park wound up being more than three and a half hours. It turned out to be time well spent.
The no. 1 team in Class 6A cruised past Walker, sweeping the Vikings 17-0 and 10-0.
Now the Bearcats wait for no. 3 Decatur in the quarterfinals next weekend at Bill Shelton Field. Game times will be announced in a couple of days. Decatur swept Homewood at home the same time the Bearcats got the best of the Vikings.
Cullman is 33-7 after eliminating Walker for the second straight season. In 2016, the 'Cats did it in the third round.
Cullman got two huge hits to key the win in the opener. A bases-clearing triple by Levi Thomas scored Chayton Grimmett, Caleb Lipsey and Noah Fondren in the second. Thomas was given home when the throw sailed into the Walker dugout.
Cullman had a 6-0 lead at that time.
The big hit in a nine-run fifth inning was a grand slam homer from Fondren. Jacob Heatherly cracked a two-run double with pinch hitter Carson Freeman driving in a run with a single.
Heatherly finished off the Vikings in the fifth to get the game over by the run rule. The lefty allowed three hits, hit one batter and struck out six.
Walker pitching hit seven Cullman batters with Owen Lovell getting nailed three times. The Vikings walked seven batters and were charged with five wild pitches. Six of the seven hit batters scored in this one-sided playoff.
Game 2:
Being the home team for the nightcap, the 'Cats got a 2-0 lead in the first when Heatherly had a sac fly to score Fondren and Trent Price ripped a single to score Lovell.
Price executed a squeeze play in the third when his bunt single sent Lovell home and made it 3-0. Wheeler Eastman singled and scored Heatherly, and Cullman was up 4-0.
Runs batted in from Grayson Taylor, Lovell, Carter Bowen and Price extended the margin to 9-0, heading to the fifth.
Thomas allowed one hit in four innings in game two, then let Cade Williams hurl the fifth. Williams got two quick outs before a throwing error extended the inning for Walker.
Zack Durham grounded to Fondren at third who threw to Price at first and kept the Vikings from scoring.
In the Cullman half of the fifth, Taylor tripled into the right-center gap with one out and remained there after Fondren struck out and Thomas walked.
Then Lovell, who wound up getting hit four times in the series, singled into left field to send in Taylor and end the game.
Cullman collected eight hits in game two and also walked five times, plus being hit three times.
Heatherly, along with Thomas and Williams, shut out the Vikings, allowing them just four hits in 10 innings, and combining for 10 strikeouts.
Cullman has outscored the opposition in the postseason 42-2 after two rounds and four contests.
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