How Montgomery-area teams performed at the AHSAA state softball tournament
OXFORD — Four River Region softball teams made their way to Choccolocco Park this week with dreams of an AHSAA state championship. By Wednesday night, those dreams had disappeared for all four.
Here's a recap of how Montgomery-area teams performed at the state tournament.
Brewbaker Tech goes the distance
Finally, Taniyah Brown had nothing left.
After pitching all 11 innings of Brewbaker Tech's marathon Class 5A tournament opener against Satsuma and another complete game against Moody, the Rams' ace was out of gas after two innings against Rehobeth.
"It was just hard on our pitcher to throw that many innings in the middle of the day, the head of the day, with no breaks," said Brewbaker Tech coach Chris Steiner. "She's a fighter and she gave everything she had to this team today."
Without Brown in the circle, Brewbaker Tech's season came to an end with an 11-9 loss to the Rebels, a game in which the Rams trailed 10-3 in the fourth but rallied for three runs in the seventh before seeing their first state tournament appearance come to an end.
"Super proud of this group," Steiner said. "Never been in this situation or been in this kind of limelight."
The Rams (40-7) took a 3-2 lead against defending state champion Satsuma in the 10th, but the Gators singled home the tying run down to their last out and walked it off on a wild pitch the next inning. Brew Tech then knocked off Moody, 3-2, staying alive for one more game.
"I think we had to come in and figure it out at first," Steiner said. "... We played kind of nervous, played a little tight. But hand it to them. They battled, they stayed in there. We just didn't finish and come up in the clutch when we needed to."
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Elmore County can't get bats going
Despite averaging 7.3 runs and batting .345 as a team coming into the Class 5A tournament, Elmore County didn't score a single run and had just three hits combined in losses to Rehobeth and West Point.
The Panthers (37-14-1) fell to the Rebels 4-0 behind Shellie Littlefield's masterful, nine-strikeout performance, setting them up against West Point. The game had all the makings of a pitcher's duel, as seventh-grader Lalah Culpepper tossed six scoreless frames to match UAB signee Carlie Wilkins.
The Warriors broke the dam in the seventh, however, scoring six runs to end Elmore County's campaign. Wilkins finished off her one-hitter in the bottom of the inning.
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Prattville eliminated, but Lions have bright future
Prattville was a pleasant surprise this season. The Lions won 27 games, a season after winning just 11, and did so with a new coach, Brian Pittman.
They played their best softball down the stretch. After finishing second in their area, they beat Enterprise twice on the road to win the area title, and took down No. 9 Daphne in last week's Central Regional qualifier to make the 7A state tournament.
Prattville (27-19) lost both its games Wednesday, falling 6-2 to Central-Phenix City and 10-2 to Spain Park, but the Lions' top three hitters by batting average — Kaytie Chandler, Kaylee Robles and Kylie Jarman — will all return in 2023. Additionally, Chandler and Jarman were solid in the circle, combining for a 1.63 ERA in 118 innings.
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Prattville Christian's season ends
Prattville Christian had a chance to exorcise some of last season's demons.
After falling 10-1 to Mobile Christian in the first round of the Class 3A tournament, the Panthers defeated Piedmont, 5-3, behind Jersee Carter's 3-for-4 showing. That set them up for an elimination game against Plainview, which defeated PCA twice in the championship series to win last season's title.
Wednesday was more of the same for the Panthers, though, as they lost 6-1 and their season came to an end at 36-12. But with pitchers Alivia Messick and Laura Beth Nesmith back along with five batters who hit above .330, PCA should be primed for a fifth straight state tournament appearance next season.
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Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: AHSAA softball: Brew Tech, Prattville, Elmore County in state tournament
