Thompson makes run to championship game of Gulf Coast Classic
Published 12:15 pm Friday, March 29, 2024
The top-ranked Thompson Warriors went 6-2 against tough competition at the Gulf South Classic to make a run to the championship game and improve to 27-4. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
GULF SHORES – The Thompson Warriors made the most of their beach trip as they went 6-2 at the Gulf Coast Classic III at the Gulf Shores Sportsplex on Monday, March 25 and Wednesday, March 27.
That run included four straight wins in bracket play on a busy Wednesday as the Warriors made it all the way to the championship game of the tournament where they lost to Hewitt-Trussville.
Before then, Thompson started out pool play on Monday, March 25 with a 3-2 win over the Columbia Academy Bulldogs.
After the Warriors earned three straight outs in the bottom of the first, Kadyn Bush and Laney Williams kicked off the top of the second with back-to-back singles. Those hits and a Morgan Adolphus stolen base allowed Aldolphus to score off a groundout by Aubree Hooks.
Two batters later, an error by the Columbia shortstop allowed Williams to come home, increasing the Thompson lead to 2-0.
That score line held until the top of the fourth when a Williams walk and Hooks single turned into an RBI single from Olivia Tindell and a 3-0 lead.
The Bulldogs scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the frame, but Hooks earned a strikeout to preserve the lead and earn the 3-2 win.
Hooks pitched a complete game of 4.1 innings to earn the win without allowing an earned run. She took five strikeouts against two walks, two hits and two unearned runs.
While the Warriors suffered just their third loss of the season to Daniel Boone in their second game behind a two-run first inning by the Blazers, they bounced back in a big way in their final pool play game against the Adamsville Cardinals.
A wild pitch on the third batter of the game put Thompson on the board and kicked off five straight scoring plays in the top of the first.
Bush followed that with an RBI double, Williams hit an RBI single and Hooks had an RBI double to make the lead 4-0. Keara Hall capped off the sequence with a two-run home run to put her team up by six.
The Warriors weren’t done causing damage as a pair of passed balls advanced Savanna Burnett from first base to home and restarted the scoring. Two batters later, Dailynn Motes took the lead to 8-0 with an RBI double.
The Cardinals loaded up the bases again on the next batter, and Williams then hit her second scoring hit of the day, a bases-clearing triple to close out the scoring for the inning and lead 11-0.
After a walk and a Josie Hamm single to start the second, Blakely Davis and Adolphus hit back-to-back RBI singles to increase the lead to 13-0.
An RBI groundout by Adolphus in the top of the fourth scored Tindell for the final run of the game as Thompson won 14-0.
Kayla Haney earned the win with three shutout innings and four strikeouts against four hits and no walks.
After rain pushed bracket play to Wednesday, March 27, the Warriors started the morning bright and early with a matchup against the Chilton County Tigers.
Thompson scored four runs in the top of the second behind a two-run single by Tindell and a two-run home run by Alexandra Bauer and didn’t look back from there.
The Warriors had a two-run third inning before Motes hit a three-run home run in the top of the fourth to increase the lead to 9-0.
A Davis RBI single in the top of the fifth closed out the 10-0 win for Thompson.
Bush had six strikeouts in the win and Haney recorded four strikeouts in a two-inning save.
The Warriors then advanced to face the No. 2 team in Class 4A, the Curry Hornets.
Thompson’s offense got on a roll to start the first inning as an RBI single by Bush and an RBI double by Hooks gave it a 2-0 lead.
However, Curry tied up the game in the bottom of the first with an RBI triple and an RBI single.
That was the closest the Hornets would get to the lead as an error in the second allowed two runs to score, and Bush followed that up with an RBI double to increase the lead to 5-2.
Thompson then added a pair of runs before the game ended, one off a passed ball in the top of the third and another off a Burden RBI single in the top of the fifth to finish off the 7-2 win.
The Warriors then had an even bigger offensive game as they took on the Gardendale Rockets in the quarterfinals.
After a scoreless first inning, Tindell and Bauer hit back-to-back RBI doubles in the top of the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.
That lead soon became five as Burden hit an RBI single and Motes drove home two runs with an RBI single of her own, putting Thompson up 5-0 after the second inning. Burden hit another RBI single on the final play of the third to increase the lead to six.
The Warriors scored another pair of runs in the top of the fourth off a Motes RBI double and a Williams sacrifice fly to make the score 8-0, and an inning later, Mallory Flournoy scored the final run of the game off an RBI groundout to earn the 9-0 win.
Thompson then advanced to the semifinals to face the Houston Academy Raiders.
After getting into a two-out hole to start the top of the first, Motes doubled on the first pitch she saw and set up Bush to hit an RBI single, giving the Warriors a 1-0 lead.
That lead held through the rest of the game as Aubree Hooks struck out four batters and worked her way around three hits and six walks to pitch five shutout innings and take the win.
While the Warriors fell 7-0 to the Hewitt-Trussville Huskies in the championship game immediately after, they improved to 27-4 with their performance in the tournament.
Thompson will return to action after spring break with a road trip to area foe Tuscaloosa County on Tuesday, April 2 at 4:30 p.m.
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