Lady Jags fall at Hewitt-Trussville

A big fifth inning propelled the Hewitt-Trussville softball team to an 8-2 win over Class 7A, Area 6 rival Spain Park on Thursday at Goldie Paine Field.

Bailey Murphy’s double into right-center opened up the floodgates in that deciding inning and tied the game at 2-2, as a run scored on the play before Tate Moseley was also waved around third base but thrown out at home plate.

Sara Borden, Hannah Borden, and Molly Cobb all followed with run-scoring hits, as the Lady Huskies opened up a three-run advantage.

“It felt great, especially after Tuesday night, because it seemed like we couldn’t string two (hits) together, Hewitt-Trussville head coach Jordan Burson said. “Absolutely. Stringing four, five, six hits together in a row is great to see, especially against a pitcher we struggled against Tuesday.”

The Lady Jags took the opening game of the series on Tuesday night, giving the teams a split against each other for the week.

“We’ve got a tough area,” Spain Park head coach C.J. Hawkins said. “We knew what Hewitt’s capable of doing. They beat the No. 1 team in the country (Curry). We knew they could hit.”

Moseley came back in the sixth inning and chopped a single up the middle to score two more runs. Hannah Borden added her second RBI of the day on a sacrifice fly later in the inning, extending the lead to the final margin of 8-2.

Spain Park led at two different junctures of the game, as Kynadi Tipler led off the proceedings with a single and later scored on Mary Katherine Tedder’s base knock -- one of her two hits in the contest.

Tipler then broke a tie with a leadoff homer in the fifth, after Abigail Inman hit a solo shot in the previous inning for Hewitt-Trussville. Tipler finished the game 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Caroline Parker's pair of hits gave the Lady Jags three hitters with multi-hit performances.

Eight of the nine Hewitt-Trussville starters notched exactly one base hit in the game.

Caroline Kendrick started in the circle for the Lady Jags, and hurled 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits. She gave way to Kate Campbell but re-entered for the final inning.

Hewitt-Trussville ace pitcher Bailey Murphy pitched her first full game back from injury in the game, going the distance and surrendering just two runs on seven hits. She walked one and struck out five.

“Tonight, she looked good, so I just let her finish that one out,” Burson said.