Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Thompson Warriors continued to roll through their schedule, following up a 6-4 win over Spain Park in a battle of two 7A state tournament teams with big results in Orange Beach and Springville.

Thompson defeated the Springville Tigers 6-4 on Monday, March 17 at Springville High School after beating Florida’s Milton Panthers 10-0 and Louisiana’s Doyle Tigers 8-3 on Friday, March 14 in Orange Beach.

In the Springville game, the Warriors fell behind early to the Tigers after a walk and an error in the bottom of the first led to the first run of the game off a one-out RBI single. While Thompson recovered and got the next out, an RBI triple plated two more runs and took the Springville lead to 3-0.

Hannah Hobbs immediately responded on the first pitch of the second with a solo home run to trim the gap to 3-1, but that was all the runs the Warriors got in the inning.

After a strong bottom of the second from pitcher Aubree Hooks, Thompson made its move in the top of the third.

After Olivia Tindell singled off a new pitcher to start the inning, Aubrey Bauer immediately brought her home from first off an RBI double. That set up Kadyn Bush to tie the game up at 3-3 on an RBI double of her own.

However, the Warriors rally hit a speed bump in the form of back-to-back outs to drop them into a two-out hole.

Morgan Adolphus overcame the pressure and ripped a line drive single to center on a 2-1 pitch to send Bush home for the go-ahead run. Adolphus quickly stole second to allow Jillian Kato to bring her home off an RBI single, putting Thompson up 5-3 in the process.

Thompson briefly saw its lead slip back down to one after a two-out error in the bottom of the third made the score 5-4 as Springville scored a runner from second.

The Warriors left runners stranded at the corners and immediately got a bunt single from Kelsey Burden on the first pitch of the top of the fourth. While the next two batters struck out, Bush stepped up with an RBI single to finish off the 6-4 victory.

Hooks took the win with four strikeouts in 4.1 innings. All four of the runs were unearned, and she worked around four hits and one walk to keep Thompson in front. Autumn Ingle finished out the job with 2.2 shutout innings and three strikeouts against just one walk.

Burden went 3-for-4 at the plate with one run, Bush was 2-for-3 with a walk, two RBI and a run, Adolphus finished 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI and Kato went 2-for-4 with an RBI single.

Before then, Thompson took a pair of victories over out-of-state teams in Orange Beach, first defeating Milton by the run rule.

After a Burden single followed by an error in the bottom of the first, Bauer scored both base runners in scoring position with an RBI single to put the Warriors up 2-0. While the next two batters got out, a Hobbs first-pitch double made the lead 3-0 before the end of the inning.

Thompson used little plays to set up big ones in the bottom of the second as Blakely Davis drew a lead-off walk and advanced to second on a Josie Hamm sacrifice bunt. Burden then scored Davis off an RBI double to center before Tindell’s sacrifice fly took the lead to 5-0.

While the Warriors couldn’t capitalize off a bases-loaded opportunity in the bottom of the third, Tindell’s lead-off double in the following inning led to a Kato RBI single to put them up 6-0.

Ansley Haynes hit a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth ahead of a Mallory Flournoy walk to put a pair of runners on. The lead runner got out on the next play, but with a two still on base, Tindell sent a ball into right for an RBI triple, scoring two runs for the 8-0 lead.

Lexi Kelley, Ingle and Kato then got three-straight singles on three-straight pitches in the bottom of the sixth to set up the end of the game. Destinee Ealy kept the ball rolling with another first-pitch single for the 9-0 lead, and Haynes plated another run off a ground out to take the run-rule win and a no-hitter.

Bush took the win with five strikeouts in 4.1 no-hit innings. Kelley finished off the win with 1.2 perfect innings of relief.

Tindell was 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs, Burden finished 2-for-4 with three runs and an RBI, Bauer went 2-for-3 with two RBI and Kato came in for a perfect 2-for-2 stint with an RBI.

The next game against Doyle saw the Warriors sprint ahead, using a pair of singles from Burden and Tindell to start the game to set up an RBI double from Bauer. Thompson then capitalized off miscues, using a hit by pitch to set up a sacrifice bunt for a run and then going up 4-0 off an error and a walk.

Haynes then finished off the five-run inning with a sacrifice fly to give the Warriors a commanding lead that they would not give up.

The Tigers rallied in the bottom half of the inning as they loaded up the bases with three-straight singles and got runs off a ground out and an RBI single. However, that only cut the deficit to 5-2 and was as close as they would get.

Hobbs then started out the top of the third with a solo home run before Doyle drew back within three in the bottom of the frame with an RBI single after the lead-off batter tripled.

The Warriors finished the job in the top of the fourth with an RBI double from Hooks and a sacrifice fly from Adolphus.

Hooks got the win with four strikeouts in three innings, working around three runs, six hits and two walks. Ingle didn’t allow any hits in her two innings of relief and got two strikeouts against two walks.

Tindell led the offense with a 2-for-3 game with a walk and two runs while Hooks and Adolphus each had two RBI.

Thompson improved to 22-2 with the wins and extended its win streak to five in a row. The Warriors will return to action on Thursday, March 20 at 4:30 p.m. against the Hartselle Tigers at home in their final game before spring break.