Jags win Sidney Cooper Invitational
COLUMBUS, Ga. -- A pair of local high school softball teams ventured over the state line into Georgia over the weekend, as Hoover and Spain Park competed in Central-Phenix City's Sidney Cooper Invitational, held in honor of the former Central coach Feb. 24-25 at the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus, Georgia.
Spain Park (7-0) held serve the entire weekend, winning all six games it played, including four on Saturday, to take home the plaque. The tournament win marked just the second regular season tournament victory in school history (Wetumpka, 2013).
Hoover (3-5) overcame beginning the season with three consecutive losses to put together a successful run in the tournament. The Bucs split their two pool games on Friday before winning their first two games on Saturday.
After those first two wins Saturday -- an extra-inning 7-6 win over Smiths Station and a 16-1 thumping of Opelika -- Hoover and Spain Park met in the semifinals.
In what is likely to be the only regular season meeting between the two teams this year, both sides got the offense rolling from the get-go, as Spain Park held a 3-1 lead after an inning of play. The Jags pulled away in the second inning, getting a two-run double from Julianna Cross in a three-run inning to take a 6-1 edge. That score held the rest of the way.
In the tournament final, Spain Park held off a late charge from James Clemens to win, 7-6.
The Jags put up a 4-spot in the top of the first inning, as Jenna Olszewski and Annabelle Widra drove in runs, followed up by a two-run double from Mary Kate Teague.
James Clemens notched a two-run homer to cut the lead in half following two innings, but Spain Park got both runs back in the top of the third inning, as Olszewski brought home Mary Katherine Tedder on a sacrifice fly and Teague scorched another double to right-center field to score Widra and give the Jags a 6-2 edge.
The Jets scored another pair to cut the deficit in the half after three innings. Cross gave Spain Park its final run of the game with an RBI single in the fourth inning. James Clemens threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but the time limit was exceeded, and the game went final after the Jags recorded the final outs of the fourth.
After sweeping pool play with wins over Lee-Montgomery and Wetumpka on Friday, Spain Park encountered a challenge in its first game Saturday, as Dale County jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings. But the Jags rallied and walked off a 7-6 winner on Olszewski's game-winning hit.
The Jags knocked off Handley, 12-5, to set up the semifinal matchup with Hoover.
The Spain Park junior varsity team also had an impressive run in the tournament, finishing second to Smiths Station in the JV portion on Saturday despite playing with just nine players and no substitutions. A handful of players fought through injury and other adversities to play three full games on the day.