RCHS, Woodland to host softball area tournaments; Handley will be on the road at Munford
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
The Woodland Lady Bobcats and the RCHS Lady Tigers will host their respective softball area tournaments when postseason play begins in early May.
Handley’s area tournament will be at Munford, and Wadley and Woodland play in the same area, so Wadley will be in Woodland for its area tournament.
The top two teams from each area advance to the regional tournaments beginning Monday, May 11.
__
RCHS – 3A, Area 9
RCHS is 18-7 overall and went 6-0 in area play against Saks, Wellborn and Weaver. RCHS beat Saks 17-0 and 18-0 in their two regular season meetings. The story was similar against Wellborn as the Tigers won those two games 11-2 and 16-0.
Weaver gave RCHS its only close area game. The Lady Tigers won the first meeting 12-0 in Wedowee in early March, but needed extra innings to win 7-5 at Weaver last Thursday.
The Lady Tigers have a solid lineup and good team speed and are led by senior leadoff hitter and shortstop Gracie Huckeba, who has signed to play at Southern Union next season.
Huckeba is hitting .532 with a home run and 18 RBI. She leads the team in stolen bases with 20 and in runs scored with 49. The 1-2 punch of Huckeba and eighth-grader Bryer Thompson at the top of the order has been setting the table for the RCHS offense all season. Thompson is hitting .483 with 41 runs scored and 18 stolen bases.
Hannah Parmer (.463, 5 HR, 36 RBI), Lizzie Milam (.515, 31 RBI) and Abi Waters (.443, 28 RBI) have been taking advantage of their run-scoring opportunities in the middle of the order.
Waters has been the primary pitcher for the Lady Tigers as she has posted a 13-5 record with 2.03 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 82.2 innings.
RCHS will open the area tournament against Saks at noon on Friday, May 1. If they finish as the area champion or runner up they will advance to the East Central Regional in Albertville where they would begin play Wednesday, May 13.
Woodland/Wadley – 1A, Area 8
Woodland and Fayetteville split their regular season games, but Woodland won the tiebreaker and will host the tournament. Woodland is 14-10-1 and ranked No. 8 in the state in Class 1A.
Woodland handled Wadley and Winterboro in convincing fashion during the regular season, going 4-0 and outscoring those two teams by a combined score of 71-2 in the four games. It was a different story against Fayetteville as Woodland won 5-3 on March 19 in Woodland and lost 4-3 on April 14 at Fayetteville.
Alyssa Taylor leads Woodland at the plate with a .412 batting average, 2 home runs and 17 RBI.
Reigning county player of the year Railey Williams has continued to dominate in the circle as she has gone 11-6 with a 2.31 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 95.1 innings pitched.
Wadley is 2-11 this season with both of their wins coming against Winterboro. Whitley Osborne leads the Lady Bulldogs with a .476 average and eight RBI. Payton Calhoun is hitting .448 with five RBI, and has pitched 41.2 of Wadley’s 60.2 innings this season.
The top two teams from this area will advance to the Central Regional in Montgomery and will begin play there on Tuesday, May 12.
Handley – 4A, Area 8
Handley’s area tournament will take place all in one day, on Monday, May 4 at Munford.
The Lady Tigers finished second in the area with convincing wins over Anniston and Talladega, but they finished 0-2 against tournament host Munford. Handley lost 11-2 to the Lions on April 9 in Roanoke, then fell 15-3 at Munford on April 16.
Breydan Watkins and Rayna Smith have been the two biggest bats in the Handley lineup this season. Watkins has hit .507 with 9 home runs and 29 RBI in her senior season, while the junior Smith has batted .471 with two home runs and 22 driven in. Claire Pike is also over .400 at .429 and leads the team with 22 stolen bases.
Smith and Makenzie McCain have split duties as the primary pitchers for the Lady Tigers, who are 10-15 overall.
The top two teams from this area will advance to the Central Regional in Montgomery, where they will begin play Monday, May 11.
Related Posts
