Lincoln three-peats
- Updated: March 15, 2017
Lady Bears rally twice, beat Sylacauga on Houck’s two-run double for third Talladega County title
Wednesday’s softball
Lincoln 5, Sylacauga 4
Pleasant Valley 13, Glencoe 2
Sylacauga 11, Munford 3
Sylacauga 11, Fayetteville 3
Thursday’s games
Saks vs. Handley
Glencoe at Sand Rock, 4:30 p.m.
Pleasant Valley at Piedmont, 4:30 p.m.
Southside at Alexandria, 5 p.m.
Wellborn at Weaver, 5 p.m.
Lincoln at Clay Central, 5:30 p.m.
Ohatchee at Pell City, 6 p.m.
Ranburne at Cleburne County, 6:30 p.m.
By East Alabama Sports Today
SYLACAUGA – Taylor Houck wasn’t happy with her previous at-bat and wanted to make amends the next time she came to the plate. She came up in the sixth with a chance to make a difference and she delivered.
Houck capped a two-out rally when she drilled a two-run double to centerfield that lifted Lincoln to a 5-4 victory over Sylacauga for an unprecedented third straight Talladega County Softball Tournament title.
The Lady Bears (14-6) trailed 4-3 since the second inning and after having their first two batters retired in the sixth were in danger of going into the seventh down a run.
Then, Dana Snyder got hit by a pitch for the 43rd time in her career and Reh Powell walked. That brought Houck to the plate and the Lady Bears’ leading hitter (.562) cleared the bases with her shot over the center fielder’s head. It was her second hit of the game.
“It was one of the biggest (hits),” Houck said. “I was early on the ball on my previous at-bat and hit a ground ball to second base. I had to make some adjustments so I could get on base for my team.
“It was a little frustrating at first because you get so pumped up about this game, but you’ve just got to keep fighting as a team. You can’t let down and I think that’s what we did. We got people on base and had the two-out rally.”
Lincoln won its first three tournament games by a 28-0 margin with two one-hitters and a perfect game, but the Lady Bears found themselves in a battle in the final.
Sylacauga was playing its third game of the day, having beaten Munford and Fayetteville by identical 11-3 scores to get to the finals, and led Lincoln twice in the championship game.
The Lady Aggies scored two in the first, but Lincoln rallied in the bottom of the inning on Carlee Mullinax’ RBI double and freshman Ashley Williams’ two-run single. Sylacauga answered with two in the top of the second and held the lead until the decisive sixth.
Steady Savannah Sands came on to pitch for the Lady Bears in the fifth and struck out eight of her nine outs.
“It was an ugly win, but it was a team effort, a total team effort,” first-year Lincoln coach Shea Monroe said. “The girls were resilient. They overcame adversity. Several times in the game we didn’t look like we were playing our best ball and we found a way to win. Hats off to the girls.”
Pleasant Valley 13, Glencoe 2: The Lady Raiders (11-3-1) had their bats ready for their area opener. Savannah Williams and McKinley Parris each had four RBIs and Atleigh Brannon had three hits, three runs and three stolen bases.
Parris went 3-for-4 with a homer, Brannon went 3-for-4, Williams, Ava Boozer and Mikayla Kendrick had two hits apiece. Alisa St. John pitched the first three innings allowing just two hits and a run for the win.
Wednesday’s baseball
Handley 12, Munford 0
Wadley 20, Loachapoka 1
Woodland 5, Ranburne 1
Thursday’s games
Ohatchee at Saks, 1 p.m.
Anniston at TCC, 4:30 p.m.
Alexandria at Southside, 4:30 p.m.
Ashville at Glencoe, 4:30 p.m.
Munford at Handley (2), 4:30 p.m.
Pleasant Valley at Coosa, 4:30 p.m.
Spring Garden at Weaver, 4:30 p.m.
Talladega at Cleburne County (2), 4:30 p.m.
Handley 12, Munford 0: Rhett Fetner drove in the game’s first two runs with a first-inning single and then gave up one hit over five innings as the Tigers opened their area play with a victory.
The only hit Fetner allowed was a leadoff single by Drew Harkins in the fifth inning. The Lions loaded the bases in the inning, but Fetner got out of it with his sixth strikeout and game-ending fly out.
At the plate, Fetner went 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Jay Brown had a RBI double, two-run triple and drove in four runs. Kyle Lester went 3-for-4 and Cagan Hamby went 2-for-3.
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