By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – The Spain Park Lady Jaguars hosted the 7A Area 8 softball championship tournament, which took place from April 30-May 2. The Lady Jaguars won the tournament after beating Mountain Brook in the first game before defeating Hewitt-Trussville twice in three games to lock up the championship.

The softball area tournaments are double elimination, and the top-two finishers in each area move on to the state tournament. Spain Park, the top-seeded team in 7A Area 8, needed just four-and-a-half innings to beat Mountain Brook 10-0 to advance to the second round, where it faced off against Hewitt-Trussville. The Lady Jaguars defeated the Lady Huskies 5-2 to advance to the third round of the tournament. Hewitt-Trussville won its consolation game to advance out of the loser’s bracket and face Spain Park again, and defeated the Lady Jaguars in the rematch by a score of 11-4 to set up a third game.

In the third game between the two teams in less than 24 hours, Mary Kathryn Bonamy took the mound for Spain Park and never left. Bonamy threw a complete game, seven-inning effort in which she tossed 89 pitches, gave up 11 hits and five runs while striking out two.

Down 4-2 heading into the sixth inning, Spain Park erupted for six runs in the sixth and seventh innings to take the game and the area championship. Kynadi Tipler sent a grand slam home run sailing over the center field fence with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give Spain Park an 8-4 lead, and Jenna Olszewski followed suit in the seventh inning, sending a three-run shot over the left field fence in the seventh inning, which lengthened the Lady Jaguars lead to 12-5.

The Lady Jaguars advanced to 34-10-2 after the tournament and will take on Hoover in the North-Central Regional Qualifier in Tuscaloosa in the next round of the 7A state tournament.