Longhorns take two to remain unbeaten in state tourney

Marengo Academy (21-18) went unbeaten in its first day in the AISA Class A state tournament at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.

Marengo 13, Crenshaw 3

The Longhorns got the bats rolling in the second inning against Crenshaw and scarcely looked back en route to a 13-3 victory.

Mary Grace Sheffield had a triple, four RBIs and a run scored. Riley Newton singled and scored twice. Macey Petrey walked and scored twice. Trinity Wilkinson had a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Taylor Jordan singled twice, drove in a run and scored twice. Hannah Freeman singled twice, notched two RBIs and scored two runs. Jessie Flowers singled. Mary Jordan Drake drove in a run and scored another. Brittan Davis walked, singled and scored.

The Longhorns scored three in each of the third and fourth innings but did the bulk of their damage with a seven-run fifth.

Marengo 5, Patrician 3

Game two saw the Longhorns pull out a 5-3 victory over reigning state champion Patrician, a squad that had previously beaten the Longhorns seven times this season. The Longhorns scratched out three runs in the first to stake Mazzy Marlowe to a 3-0 lead before she ever stepped into the circle. She battled her way into making that lead stand up for most of the contest as she used 85 pitches for the complete game win that saw her strike out two and scatter four Patrician hit.

Sheffield walked to open the contest. Two batters later, Petrey singled to right to put runners on the corners with one out. Wilkinson followed with a run-scoring single to plate Sheffield for the 1-0 lead. Back-to-back errors then allowed Petrey and Wilkinson to score to move the advantage to 3-0.

Patrician cut into the deficit in the bottom of the first when Lydia Lewis reached on an error on scored on Kelsey Lewis’s single to narrow it to 3-1.

Marengo added to the lead in the top of the fourth when Wilkinson deposited a 1-0 offering over the right field fence to make it 4-1. The Longhorns then ballooned the lead one more time when Sheffield hit a two-out single, stole second base, advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a second wild pitch to make it 5-1.

Patrician made its move in the bottom of the seventh when Charlie Sturdivant singled with one out before Mae Etheridge turned on the only pitch she saw and directed it over the centerfield fence for a two-run shot that cut it to 5-3. Marlowe rebounded quickly, needing only four pitches to induce two groundouts to end the game.

Marengo Academy resumes its quest for the state title Saturday at 10 a.m.