Thompson improves to 11-1 with Gina Firth Classic championship
Published 6:42 pm Monday, February 26, 2024
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
TUSCALOOSA – The Thompson Warriors kept on rolling with an undefeated weekend and a tournament championship at the Gina Firth Classic on Feb. 23-24.
Coming in hot on the heels of a 10-0 win over Demopolis on Thursday, Feb. 22, the Warriors dominated the tournament hosted by Hillcrest-Tuscaloosa and won six games to extend their win streak to nine games in a row.
Thompson started the tournament off with a bang as it made quick work of the Hatton Hornets in a 12-0 win.
The Warriors got out of the top of the first with a one-two-three inning and proceeded to drop 10 runs in the bottom of the frame.
Kelsey Burden crossed home plate for the first run of the night, and then on the next play, a Kadyn Bush double scored a pair of Warriors to make the score 3-0.
After Alexandra Bauer reached on an error, Bush and Olivia Tindell scored. With Aubree Hooks on third, Savanna Burnett brought her home with an RBI single.
An RBI groundout by Kelsey Burden and an RBI triple by Keara Hall set up Dailynn Motes to hit a two-run home run to end the scoring for the inning and give Thompson a 10-0 lead.
In the bottom of the second, the Warriors added a pair of runs from an RBI single by Bauer and an RBI double from Mallory Flournoy to close out the 12-0 win in three innings.
Bush earned the win with a pair of shutout innings, securing five strikeouts against one walk. Kayla Haney earned the save with a scoreless third inning.
The Warriors closed out the day with a 3-0 win over the Brookwood Panthers.
Thompson did all of its damage in the fourth inning to earn the win. After allowing just one hit to that point, the Warriors loaded up the bases on the first three batters of the inning thanks to a walk, a bunt single by Motes and an error.
Tindell reached base on an error on the next at-bat and brought Hall home for the first run of the day.
While Brookwood earned a pair of outs, Hannah Hobbs drove in two more runs on a line drive RBI single to make the final score 3-0.
Hooks earned the win with a complete-game shutout, striking out six batters against two hits.
The next day on Saturday, Feb. 24, Thompson rode a pair of five-run innings to defeat the Russellville Golden Tigers 10-0.
A leadoff double by Burden led to an RBI triple by Hall for the first run of the game. That left Burden on base for Motes to hit a two-run home run and make the score 3-0 with no outs.
Two batters later, Tindell reached scoring position off a single and a steal, and she came home when Hooks hit a single. Lainey Williams hit an RBI fly out to bring Hooks home for the fifth run of the inning.
After a one-two-three top of the second, a Neely Davis leadoff single led to a one-out two-run home run by Hall to make the score 7-0.
The next three batters loaded up the bases and led to three straight scoring plays: an RBI flyout by Hooks and RBI singles by Williams and Flournoy to close out the 10-0 win in four innings.
Haney took the win with a complete-game shutout across four innings of work. She struck out four batters while allowing just two hits.
Thompson then found itself in its first battle of the weekend in a one-run game with the Fairhope Pirates.
After a scoreless first five innings, the teams went into extras in search of the winning run. Tindell was placed on second base as the ghost runner and Hooks quickly brought her home for the first run of the game.
Williams followed that with a single, and after a Fairhope pitching change, Bauer drove her and Nora Ellia home to make the score 3-0.
The Pirates recovered to secure three outs, and they got a run back with an RBI groundout with two runners on to cut the deficit to two runs.
Fairhope overcame the two-out pressure to hit an RBI single in the next at-bat, but Hooks earned a three-pitch strikeout to end the game.
Hooks earned the win by earning five strikeouts in three innings while allowing just one hit and one unearned run.
The Warriors then got back to their dominant ways with a 15-1 win over the Tuscaloosa County Wildcats.
After a pair of singles to start the game, Burden scored on an error and Hall crossed home on an RBI sacrifice fly to give Thompson a 2-0 lead after the first.
Five straight singles to begin the second inning led to another pair of runs as Burnett and Burden picked up RBIs.
Despite Tuscaloosa County picking up the second out, Motes and Tindell each hit RBI singles and Hooks earned an RBI double to increase the lead to nine runs.
Thompson’s first two runners of the third inning reached base, and that paved the way for a five-run inning off an RBI single by Davis, a run by Burnett off a fielder’s choice, a two-run triple by Tindell and an RBI single by Haney.
From there, the scoring slowed down, as a two-out RBI single by Motes in the fourth was the Warriors’ last run of the game, and the Wildcats only scored one run in response in the bottom of the fourth to finish out the contest.
Hooks was the winning pitcher with 1.2 innings of shutout softball and Haney earned the save by not allowing an earned run the rest of the way.
Thompson then faced the Curry Yellow Jackets in the finals and ended the weekend on a dominant note with a 12-0 win.
The Warriors scored five runs in the bottom of the first after a pair of two-out walks set them up for success. Hooks hit a two-run single for the first runs of the game followed by an RBI single by Williams and a two-run knock by Bauer.
That lead became seven after RBI singles by Hall and Bush in the bottom of the second.
After a double play to end the top of the third, Thompson quickly got in business with a Williams triple that led to an RBI single by Bauer, her second of the game.
A single and a walk then loaded up the bases for Hall, who plated two more runs off of a single to make the score 10-0.
Motes scored in the next at-bat for the 11th run, and Bush capped off the weekend with a sacrifice fly that scored Hall to make the final score 12-0.
Hooks earned the win with a complete game no-hitter across four innings, earning three strikeouts against two walks.
The Warriors will return to action at home in a county battle against Spain Park on Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 4:30 p.m.