Decatur Heritage Eagles sweeps Westbrook Christian; next up is Mars Hill
May 6—The Decatur Heritage Eagles advanced to the Class 2A semifinals Thursday with a sweep of Westbrook Christian, 11-1 and 6-0.
The Eagles (28-8) used dominating pitching and two home runs from All-State catcher Nash Rippen to set up a showdown next week at Mars Hill.
The Panthers from Florence also advanced Thursday with sweep of Ider, 13-3 and 7-2.
Thursday's sweep for Decatur Heritage was a bit of pay back for the Eagles. The visitors from Rainbow City near Gadsden had knocked Heritage out of the playoffs in 2019 and last season. There were no baseball playoffs in 2020 due to COVID.
Decatur Heritage pitchers Cole O'Brien, Parker Sparkman and Tyler Founds limited Westbrook to just five hits in the two games. The trio combined for 12 strikeouts. O'Brien had two in Game 1. Sparkman had seven in six innings. Founds had three in the final inning of the evening.
Rippen set the tone for the night with a home run in the first inning of Game 1 that seemed to fire up his teammates. He also homered in Game 2 to give his team a 3-0 lead.
Decatur Heritage has now advanced through three rounds with three sweeps while outscoring Cleveland, Section and Westbrook Christian, 53-12.
The sweep was the final home games for seniors O'Brien, Founds, Rippen, Tyler Olive, Charlie Moores and Luke Frasher.
It was also the last home game for Decatur Heritage coach Steve Meek, who is retiring at the end of the season.
Decatur Heritage is 2-1 all-time in semifinal round matchups.
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Game 1: After Decatur Heritage struck quick and with power. Rippen ripped a two-run home run over the fence in right field for two runs in the first inning.
The Eagles picked up three more runs in the third with the combination of an error and three base hits. Sparkman and O'Brien both singled in runs. Bo Solley brought in a third run with a sacrifice fly.
Heritage led 6-0 before Westbrook got its only run of the game on a throwing error that allowed a runner to score from third in the stop of the fifth.
The bottom of the inning saw the Eagles put up three more runs. Olive brought in two on a two-out, two-strike double. Mac Hurst singled in the third run on a two-out, two-strike single.
Game 1 came to an end in the bottom of the sixth after Tyler Founds and Rippen both walked. Sparkman loaded the bases when he reached on an infield hit. That set the stage for O'Brien's big this of the Hardy Chiropractic sign in left-center field.
O'Brien, who usually strikes out a high number of batters, had just two while throwing 78 pitches in six innings. He gave up three hits and walked one.
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Game 2: Decatur Heritage had just six hits. The leadoff hitters reached base in the first two innings on errors and both times ended up scoring for a 2-0 lead. Rippen's second home run made it 3-0 after three innings.
The Eagles picked up two more runs in the fourth on a RBI single by Sparkman and squeeze bunt by Olive. The final run came in the seventh when Olive tripled and scored a wild pitch.
— david.elwell@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @DD_DavidElwell.
