Saturday preps
- Updated: April 15, 2023
After walk-off win over ACA, top-ranked Oxford enters postseason at 29 wins, can match school history with state-title run; Piedmont splits; Oxford softball wins two
By East Alabama Sports Today
OXFORD — Oxford’s baseball team, ranked No. 1 in Class 6A for three weeks, goes into postseason with a chance to match two gold standards of school history.
If the Yellow Jackets win their second state title, they will also match the single-season program record for wins.
Oxford ended the regular season with a 4-3 victory over American Christian on Saturday at Choccolocco Park to finish the regular season at 29-6.
The playoffs start next week. To win the program’s second state title, and first since 2012, Oxford would have to win five best-of-3 series, meaning the Yellow Jackets could reach a maximum of 39 wins,
That would match the 2012 team, which finished 39-13.
Oxford won 38 games in 2016, 32 in 2022 and 31 in 2021 and 2011.
Tide Gann’s walk-off bunt single with one out and a 2-1 count in the bottom of the eighth got Oxford to 29 wins. It scored Roby Brooks, who came on as a pinch runner for Forrest Heacock, who reached on a double.
Peyton Watts tied the game 3-3 with a solo home run to right field in the bottom of the seventh. Watts also had a double earlier in the game.
Sam Robertson was 3-for-4 with a double and RBI, and Carter Johnson had a triple and RBI.
The pitching trio of James Tapley, Eli Bozeman and Watts spread out six hits over eight innings. Watts worked five innings, allowing four hits, no earned runs and no walks with six strikeouts. Bozeman got the win in two innings of relief, and Tapley pitched one perfect inning.
PIEDMONT SPLITS: Brodie Homesley and Jack Hayes combined to throw a two-hitter as Piedmont beat Etowah in the first of two games Saturday at home. He Bulldogs fell to Handley 4-2 in 13 innings in the second game.
In the opener, Homesley allowed two hits and one earned run with four walks and four strikeouts in six innings. Hayes finished it by striking out the side in the seventh.
Piedmont manufactured three runs with four hits. Trevor Pike had a single and RBI. Kale Austin, Cole Austin and Cole Wilson had a single apiece.
Against Handley, Pike had a single and RBI, and Sloan Smith drove in a run. McClane Mohon had a double.
Cole Austin pitched seven innings, and Hayes pitches six, allowing a combined 13 hits but only four earned runs. Hayes struck out seven batters.
Piedmont left 14 runners on base, Handley seven.
Softball
OXFORD WINS TWO: Berkley Mooney pitched a two-hit shutout as Oxford won its second game of the day Saturday, beating Munford 3-0.
The Yellow Jackets (19-6) beat Hokes Bluff 8-3 earlier Saturday.
Against Munford, Mooney threw 62 strikes among 86 pitches and struck out 17 batters with no walks. She pitched a perfect game against Munford on Marcy 6.
Emma Tims-Becerra hit a solo home run, and Oxford got doubles from Kaelyn Crossley, Reagan Sanders and Ashlyn Burns. Sanders, Tims-Becerra and Raina Zachery each had an RBI.
Against Hokes Bluff, Crossley and Mooney homered, and Mooney hit a double. Mooney drove in two runs and Crossley one.
Sanders doubled and drove in a run, and Kenlee Rodgers had an RBI.
Mooney and Zachery combined to hold Hokes Bluff to five hits. Mooney struck out three batters in 1 1/3 innings.
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