Sweet Water bats scorching on day one of state tourney

MONTGOMERY – Sweet Water (26-15) dropped an opening game thriller to Sumiton Christian in extra innings to open the Class 1A state tournament Wednesday. Following the potential heartbreaker, Sweet Water went on to skunk its next two opponents.

“They’re great hitters. They’re great kids. They’ve got great work ethic. And they take a great approach at the plate. It’s about situational hitting and they’re all doing a great job of it right now,” Sweet Water head coach Tony Echols said. “I hate that we dropped that first one today because we’re playing great right now.”

Sumiton Christian 5, Sweet Water 4 (Nine Innings)

It took nine innings for Sumiton Christian to finally overcome Sweet Water in the first game of play Wednesday. In a contest scheduled for a 9 a.m. first pitch, Charlie Vickers wasted no time igniting the offense by hitting a 3-1 offering up the middle for a leadoff single. Lindsey Davis followed with a walk. Two batters later, Natalie Luker singled to center to plate Vickers and Davis for the 2-0 lead.

That lead held until Sumiton capitalized on a single, a walk and an error to cut the score to 2-1 in the bottom of the second. Sumiton appeared to wrest away control of the game in the bottom of the fifth when a wild pitch and an errant throw on a pickoff attempt allowed two runs to score, putting Sumiton up 4-2.

Sweet Water denied Sumiton the shutdown inning in the top of the sixth as Luker doubled ahead of an Eve Myers single to put runners on the corners. Sumiton struck out the next two Bulldog batters before Megan Roe singled to center to drive in Smith and pinch runner Gabby Jackson to tie the game. Mallory Roe followed with a single, getting the go-ahead run all the way around to third before the final batter of the inning struck out.

Sweet Water threatened again in the top of the eighth as Eve Myers doubled ahead of a BreAnna Ramsey walk to start the inning. The next three Sweet Water hitters proved unable to find a way to reach and the Bulldogs did not threaten again in the game.

Sumiton Christian won the game in the bottom of the ninth without benefit of a hit. Four walks plated the game-winning run to give Sumiton the 5-4 win.

Sweet Water 17, Waterloo 6

Sweet Water attacked Waterloo early and often in the second game of the day, hanging 10 runs on the board in the first inning on the way to a 17-6 win.

Vickers, Davis and Sara Irvin coaxed three straight walks to open the game before Luker doubled in a pair for the 2-0 lead. Eve Myers then doubled in Irvin and Luker to move it to 4-0. Ramsey made it a third straight double, driving in Myers for the 5-0 advantage. After Megan Roe singled, Mallory Roe repeated the feat to plate Ramsey and put the Bulldogs up 6-0. After a Vickers HBP, Davis singled to left to score Megan Smith before Irvin singled in Roe and Vickers. Eve Myers hit her second double of the inning to score courtesy runner Elaina Mitchell for the 10-0 lead.

Waterloo battled back with four runs in the home half of the first before Sweet Water put pressure on again in the second. Kora Myers doubled ahead of a walk and a hit-by-pitch on the part of the Roe sisters. A double play appeared to kill the rally before Mitchell reached on an error that allowed both Roe sisters to score for the 12-4 lead. Irvin followed with a two-run shot for the 14-4 advantage.

Sweet Water added to the lead in the top of the fourth when Mitchell stroked a leadoff triple and scored on an Irvin sacrifice fly. Things got worse for Waterloo in the top of the fifth as Mallory Roe doubled and Vickers singled before Mitchell’s second triple of the game scored both runners for the 17-4 lead.

Sweet Water 13, South Lamar 1

The Bulldogs woke the bats up in the first inning against South Lamar and never slowed down in a 13-1 rout Wednesday evening. Irvin and Luker each singled with one out to start the first inning rally. Irvin scored on a steal of home to make it 1-0 before courtesy runner Madison Smith scored on BreAnna Ramsey’s fly ball. South Lamar got two hits to open the bottom of the first and plated a run on a fielder’s choice to cut it to 2-1.

Maggie Thompson doubled to open the second before scoring on an error to drive the lead to 3-1. Luker homered to lead off the top of the third before Eve Myers singled. Ramsey doubled her in to make it 5-1. Thompson then singled home Ramsey and Mallory Roe tripled her to the plate for the 7-1 advantage. Vickers turned a leadoff walk into a run in the fourth when she made it home on an Eve Myers grounder. Ramsey then doubled in Madison Smith to stretch the lead to 9-1.

Sweet Water loaded the bases with one out in the top of the fifth before Irvin launched a grand slam over the left center field fence to leave the score at 13-1.

Megan Roe kept the South Lamar hitters off balance, striking out five over five innings of work while scattering four hits and allowing one earned run.

Sweet Water hosts Addison at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday in an elimination game.

“We play big teams,” Echols said of the way his team handled itself on the state’s biggest stage. “All year long we try to get in Thomasville, Demopolis. We try to go to the Gulf Shores tournament. We play Rehobeth, who started 2-0 today. We’ve played Vestavia and Huntsville, 7A schools, whatever we can get. That way our girls don’t wilt on the stage, hopefully.”