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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVER – Trailing 6-4 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Spain Park Jaguars needed the bats to step up if they wanted to take the win over the Jasper Vikings.

They got just that with four straight base-runners to end the game capped off by an emphatic walk-off triple by Allie Whitaker to plate the game-tying and go-ahead runs and give Spain Park the 7-6 victory on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Spain Park High School.

Before then though, Spain Park got off to a solid start on offense, overcoming a lead-off line out to get a pair of base-runners off a walk and an error on back-to-back pitches.

From there, Whitaker started the scoring with an RBI single to left, and two batters later, Teagan Huey followed it up with a line-drive RBI double to put the Jags up 2-0 at the end of the first inning.

After a scoreless second inning, Klara Thompson tripled on the first pitch of the bottom of the third, setting up Whitaker to bring her home on a fly out and increase the lead to 3-0.

However, Jasper strung together some offense in the top of the fourth to tie up the game. The Vikings got a run off a sacrifice fly following back-to-back lead-off singles and then knotted the score at 3-3 off an RBI double and another sacrifice fly.

Jasper then rode that momentum into the top of the fifth, earning another lead-off single before battling through a two-out hole to hit an RBI double and take a 4-3 lead.

The Jags played some small ball of their own in the bottom of the sixth as a Whitaker walk followed by a Reagan Roberts sacrificed bunt put a runner in scoring position. While Spain Park went down to two outs off a strikeout, Chloe Wade took the first pitch she saw for an RBI double to tie the game back up at 4-4.

However, Jasper stole the lead right back with another big two-out spot in the top of the seventh. A two-out walk turned into a two-run inside the park home run after the Jags couldn’t get the third out on a pop fly to left. That gave the Vikings a 6-4 lead and left Spain Park with just one chance to respond.

The first batter of the home half of the seventh got out, but the Jags rallied after that with a first-pitch double from Charlee Bennett and a four-pitch walk from Thompson. Bennett then came home during Tatum Lasseter’s at-bat to cut the deficit to one before Lasseter reached on a bunt.

With two on and one out, Whitaker worked a 1-1 count and blasted a line drive triple to right field to walk it off for the Jags.

Whitaker was the lone batter with a multi-hit game as she went 2-for-4 with a walk, four RBI and a run. Thompson drew two walks in a 1-for-2 day with three runs.

Spain Park will take a 4-2 record into a Thursday, Feb. 27 showdown with Vestavia Hills at 5 p.m. at Vestavia Hills High School.