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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

NORTH SHELBY – After the Calera Eagles and Briarwood Christian Lions both fell to the Prattville Lions earlier in the day on Saturday, March 8, each side entered their matchup looking to finish the day on a positive note.

Calera managed to do just so, beating Briarwood 10-0 on the road at Briarwood Christian School to finish the day with a 1-1 split.

The day began with a tight 9-8 loss for Briarwood to Prattville in the battle of the Lions. The hosts led 8-3 at the end of the fifth inning before a six-run sixth for Prattville swung the momentum and the result in its favor.

Despite the loss, Seth Staggs finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run while Parker Sfakianos went 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI.

Calera would then lose to Prattville 8-3 in the following game. The Lions took an early 3-0 lead in the second inning, but three runs for the Eagles in the top of the fourth tied it right up.

However, Prattville took the lead back in the bottom half of the inning and slammed the door shut with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Dalton Ash led the way for the Calera offense with a 2-for-3 game with two RBI and a run.

That left the Eagles and Briarwood each at 0-1 on the day entering their county battle.

Calera loaded up the bases in the top of the first but couldn’t bring any runs home. It didn’t let that mistake repeat in the top of the second.

After starting the inning with a walk, hit by pitch and a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position, Kegan Johnson opened up the scoring with an RBI single to center. Chase Herring doubled up the lead on the next pitch with a sacrifice fly for the 2-0 advantage.

The Eagles took that lead to 3-0 in the top of the third after back-to-back singles from Ash and DJ White turned into a run off a fielder’s choice play at third.

Calera then worked around a pair of Briarwood runners in the bottom of the third and came up in a big two-out spot in the top of the fourth. Ash singled on the first pitch he saw to capitalize off an error from earlier in the inning and make it a 4-0 lead.

A walk extended the inning for David Gutierrez, who fought through five foul balls to rip a single to right for the 5-0 advantage. AJ Johnson would then keep the ball rolling with an RBI double.

Back-to-back walks led to another run crossing home plate, and Kegan Johnson capped the inning off with his second run-scoring hit of the inning, this time off a two-run double that nearly became three if not for a play at the plate to get the trailing runner out.

The Eagles couldn’t finish off the run-rule win in the fifth inning, but after getting a runner on to start the sixth thanks to an error, they didn’t let another opportunity go by. While the next two batters struck out, Kegan Johnson came up big once again with an RBI single to get the lead to the magic number of 10.

He finished the game 3-for-4 with a walk and four RBI. AJ Johnson went 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs and an RBI double, Ash was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI single and White put together a 2-for-2 game with a walk and a run. Gutierrez also finished with two RBI in a 1-for-4 game.

Ash took the complete-game shutout win by allowing just four hits and two walks in six innings while earning three strikeouts.

As for the Lions, Staggs secured his second multi-hit game of the day as he finished 2-for-3. He also had four strikeouts in relief on the mound.

Both Calera and Briarwood are 6-7 after the day’s games. The Eagles will have a tough test on Tuesday, March 11 at 4 p.m. when they host the Vestavia Hills Rebels at the Eagle Sports Complex while the Lions will face a Class 7A foe of their own when they battle the rival Oak Mountain Eagles at the same time at Briarwood Christian School.