By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

MONTEVALLO – Four Shelby County softball teams took part in the Montevallo High School softball tournament on Saturday, March 4.

Pool play started Saturday morning with all teams playing two games to determine seeding for the single elimination portion of the tournament later in the day. Montevallo went 1-1 in pool play with a 6-5 win over Vincent and a 4-2 loss to Maplesville.

Shelby County started the tournament off impressively with two wins in pool play, taking down Calera 7-0 and McAdory 4-0. Calera and Vincent went 0-2 in pool play meaning they would have difficult paths to the championship game.

Shelby County started the quarterfinal round with a 10-2 win over Vincent, which ended the Yellow Jackets’ tournament and moved the Wildcats to the semifinals. The Eagles picked up their first win of the tournament by taking down Jemison, who was 2-0 in pool play the day before, 4-3.

In the semifinals, Shelby County fell 6-2 to Bibb County ending their tournament run, but Calera picked up another close win by taking down McAdory 5-3. After going winless in pool play, the Eagles had fought through two higher seeds to make their way to the championship game where they met Bibb County.

The Eagles used a 13-run outburst against the Choctaws to win 13-7 and complete the three game sweep in elimination play to take home the championship.

After being held scoreless and to just two hits in their first two games of pool play, the Eagles went off for 22 runs during their single elimination round wins.

With the win, Calera moved to 4-3 on the season to get above .500 for the first time since they were 1-0 after their opening-game win over Montevallo.

Vincent moved to 1-3, Montevallo to 2-3 and Shelby County, who might be the best of the four teams, picked up their first loss of the season and moved to 5-1.