CULLMAN – Clad in white tops and black pants, the Lady Bearcats of Cullman had another important addition to their uniform when they took the field against the Hueytown Lady Golden Gophers. A plain white ribbon with a bold number four and the name Shellie, to pay homage to Shellie Tucker Blackwood, the Lady Cats' "team mom," who passed away Monday. The Lady Cats would take the game 1-0 on a big manufactured run.
“It was a great win,” said Cullman Head Coach Stephanie Connor. “Obviously they got the word that we mostly struggle with slow pitching. We have worked on that, but the one thing that is great about our girls is that we don’t just rely on the long ball.”
Snead State commit Olivia Schwaiger was unhittable in the early going. She was involved in all three outs in the first inning with two assists to first and catching a pop-up just inside the pitching circle. She would record two of her three strikeouts in the second on her way to another one, two, three inning.
Cullman had the first base runner of the game when Golden Gopher pitcher Kendra Tamburelli plunked Hannah Morton in the right hip, but she would eventually be thrown out at home, trying to go first to home on a throwing error by Hueytown’s Nicole Morrison, ending the Cullman scoring threat and the inning.
After a strikeout, her third in a row, Schwaiger gave up her first hit, a blooper that fell just behind the pitching circle, but no harm was done as she fought back and retired the next two batters to keep the Golden Gophers off the board.
The Lady Cats recorded their first hit and second base runner of the game when Taiya Ponder, after showing bunt, slapped a single into the second base hole. Following a strikeout, Morton drove a single between short and third to put a runner in scoring position with two on and one out. Ellie Dixon would be the next batter and she would reach on a fielder’s choice to load the bases for McKensi Burks who would promptly smash a hard shot to third that was bobbled at the hot corner, scoring Ponder to give Cullman a 1-0 lead. This would be the only run the Lady Cats would record in the inning but it would give them the all-important lead with just nine outs to get to advance.
“We couldn’t rely on the long ball this game so we just got some small hits and played small ball,” Conner said of the Lady Cat’s manufactured run.
The top of the sixth got a little dicey for the Lady Cast when Mack Kirby smacked a solid single to left to open the inning. Emily Welford would follow with a sacrifice bunt to move Kirby into scoring position. Kayla Davis was next up and she hit a hot shot to Claire Jenkins at short who, with a heads up play, threw out the lead runner leaving Hueytown with a runner on first and two outs. The next batter would ground out to Jenkins and Cullman found themselves just three outs away from a 6A state softball tournament quarter-final berth.
Cullman was unable to scratch another run across in the bottom of the sixth but it was a moot point as Schwaiger completed her gem of a game with three quick outs sandwiched between a hit. Cullman advances to the quarter-finals at 7 p.m. to face the winner of Saraland and Oxford.
“It was dominant,” Connor said of Schwaiger’s performance. “I was proud of her. That it pretty par for the course for the past several games. She has been really consistent.”
Schwaiger gave up just four hits while striking out three and not allowing a single run. Ponder, Dixon and Morton all singled in the game. Morton was the only player to reach base twice as she was hit by a pitch in the second.
