Thompson starts strong to beat Spain Park for 10th straight win

Published 4:43 pm Wednesday, February 28, 2024

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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – The Thompson Warriors used another dominant start to the game to cruise to a win over the Spain Park Jaguars and continue their strong start to the season.

The Warriors scored seven runs in a row to earn an 8-2 victory on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Thompson High School, extending their win streak to 10 games in a row.

A big reason for that was Kadyn Bush’s excellent performance both at the plate and in the circle. She led the offense with a 3-4 afternoon with a home run and four RBIs. She then came in to earn the save by allowing just one hit in three shutout innings and taking four strikeouts.

After Aubree Hooks started the game with a one-two-three inning in the top of the first, Kelsey Burden hit a leadoff triple in the bottom of the frame to kickstart the Thompson offense. Burden then scored on a wild pitch on the next at bat to put the Warriors on the board.

After a Keara Hall walk and Dailynn Motes single, Bush hit a three-run home run to center field to make the score 4-0.

Spain Park recovered from there to get three outs, but Thompson resumed its scoring pace in the second inning.

After the first two Warriors batters reached base, Motes came back up with two outs and hit an RBI single to increase the lead. Bush followed that up in the next at bat with an RBI single of her own to put Thompson up 6-0 at the end of two innings of play.

While the Jags got their first hit of the game in the top of the third, the Warriors rebounded to earn two outs and get out of the inning.

Spain Park put Thompson in another two-out situation in the bottom of the third, but just like the second inning, the Warriors still extended their lead thanks to a Hall line-drive double that scored Burden, making the score 7-0.

The Jags got down to business in the top of the fourth with a one-out double to put a runner on for Teagan Huey. She hit a two-run home run to right field to give Spain Park its first two runs of the day and cut the score to 7-2.

However, that was all that the Jags could put on the scoreboard, and Lainey Williams closed out the scoring for Thompson by using a leadoff single to hit a two-out RBI triple.

That made the final score 8-2 and extended the Warriors’ win streak.

Hooks earned the win with four strikeouts in as many innings against four hits and two earned runs.

Burden also had a solid offensive day by going 2-3 with three runs, two hits and a walk.

Thompson will now travel to Calera on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 4:30 p.m. for the first of two games against the Eagles over the next week.

The 6-5 Jags will face Wetumpka on the road in their next game on Thursday, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m.