Helena downs Chilton to lock up area championship

Published 12:16 am Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor 

HELENA – With the area championship on the line, the Helena Huskies played like it down the stretch against Chilton County on Tuesday, April 6.

The Huskies went into the bottom of the fourth tied 1-1 with the Tigers in what was shaping up to be a pitcher’s duel, but that changed with a two-out rally.

A hit batter and a single put two runners on for Brody Moss. Before he could pick up a hit, a wild pitch allowed Jordan Pearson to score and Noah Gwin to advance to third

That’s when Moss laced a single to left field to bring home a second run of the inning and give Helena a 3-1 lead.

From there, Helena scored one more run each in the fifth and sixth innings, while Jacob Peters continued a stellar night on the mound before giving way to Gavin Daniel for the close.

Peters protected the lead and finished his night with seven strikeouts in six innings. He allowed just two hits and one run in a stellar outing to pick up the win.

Daniel came in to pick up the close and finish off a 5-2 win and the area title for the Huskies by getting out of the final inning in nine pitches.

The win gave the Huskies their 20th of the season, as they improved to 20-6 overall. But, more importantly, Helena moved to 5-0 in area play to clinch the area championship and earn home field advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

Helena started the game with a big confidence boost when Moss led the game off with a double. He was able to come home on an RBI grounder from McGwire Turner two batters later to put the Huskies in front 1-0.

Chilton County had a quiet first three innings but responded in the top of the fourth with one run on a two-out RBI single.

That, however, was the only success the Tigers could find offensively.

They only had three more batters reach base the rest of the game, while Helena added a run in the fifth off an error on a hit from Connor Gibbs and another run in the sixth on a groundout from Landon Leake.

Moss finished the game 2-for-3 with one RBI to lead the way for Helena, while Leake and Turner each had an RBI. Griff Minor, Ryan Storey and Gwin each added one hit against one of the state’s best pitchers in Pico Kohn.