Bucs softball team finishes fourth in 7A state competition

This spring, Hoover High School’s softball team returned to a place it feels like it belongs.

The Buccaneers made their first appearance at the state tournament since 2014 and put forth a strong showing, winning two games and finishing fourth in Class 7A on May 20-21 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford.

“I’m extremely proud of this group,” Hoover head coach Lexi Shrout said. “We had highs and lows through the season, and we got better through it all and hit our stride. At the end of the year, we were playing our best ball.”

The Bucs won two games, and their two losses came to the champion and the runner-up in the tournament. In their first game, the Bucs won 7-6 in dramatic fashion over Sparkman. Hoover took a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning on Campbell Hecklinski’s three-run home run. Sparkman got two runs back the following inning and scratched across the tying run in the top of the seventh.

However, in the bottom of the seventh, the Bucs drew four walks over a five-batter span, the fourth one drawn by Hecklinski and forcing home the winning run.

There weren’t many positives to be taken from Hoover’s following game, an 11-1 loss to Hewitt-Trussville. But the Bucs survived the first day of the tournament with a convincing 7-1 victory over Thompson.

The Bucs scored two in the first inning and never trailed, scoring five runs over the fifth and sixth innings to pull away. Brookelyn Cannon hit a homer and drove in three runs, to go along with a complete game in the circle. She scattered eight hits and allowed just an unearned run. In that game, Hecklinski added two more hits and Emily Sims drove home a pair of runs.

That win put Hoover into the second day of the tournament and part of the final four. The Bucs bowed out the following morning to Fairhope, the eventual runner-up, in a 6-1 defeat.

“We started figuring things out offensively, putting stuff together,” Shrout said. “Our three slappers at the top of the lineup are hard to keep off the bases, and after that, we have people that can drive in runs. One through nine started putting it together.”

Despite this being the first state tournament for any of her players, Shrout said she believed the team was ready for the moment and the competition after playing top teams all season long.

“Playing a tough schedule put our girls in those games over and over and over again, where we were able to see tough pitching, we were able to see tough lineups and, at the end of the season, it just became the norm,” she said.

Hoover was the top qualifier from the West Regional in Tuscaloosa the week prior, notching one-run wins over Dothan and Thompson to advance to state. Hoover won the regular season crown in Area 5 and finished second to Thompson in the area tournament.

Even former Hoover coach Jim Brown, who led the program to five state championships, was along for the ride as the Bucs enjoyed a taste of postseason success.

“Hoover has a rich tradition of being at state, and it means a lot for them,” Shrout said. “We have girls on the team that have moms that played on those championship teams. There’s a lot of pride for those girls, parents and the community.”

Hoover has just two seniors in Cannon and Liz Lewis. Cannon led the team all year in the pitching circle, posting a 21-8 win-loss record with a 2.48 earned run average in 158 1/3 innings. She led the team with six home runs and 43 runs batted in as well.

“I’m proud of the way she finished her senior year,” Shrout said of Cannon. “She left it on all the field for us this year.”

Hoover finished the season with a record of 33-16. Shrout believes this year’s run could be the spark that carries the program to more success down the road.

“I think it’s definitely something that we’ll continue to build on,” she said. “We have several young girls in our lineup that are competitors and are hungry to win.”