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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

COLUMBIANA – The Shelby County Wildcats will once again be in the hunt for the Class 5A state baseball championship as they officially punched their ticket into the playoffs.

They did so by defeating the Sylacauga Aggies 9-4 in the first game of their area series on Wednesday, April 9 on the road.

The victory moved Shelby County to 4-1 in area play, officially clinching the No. 2 seed out of Class 5A, Area 8. Briarwood is guaranteed the top seed after sweeping the Wildcats in their area series.

However, Shelby County had to crawl out of an early hole as Sylacauga scored two runs in the first inning off a passed ball and a fly out.

That lead held through the top of the first when the Wildcats were gifted with an opening. Amare Pickett hit a lead-off single and advanced to second off a sacrifice bunt, but a strikeout complicated things by dropping Shelby County to two outs.

A pair of walks kept the inning alive and loaded up the bases for Cale Blevins, who plated a pair of runs with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2.

After a scoreless fourth, the Wildcats pounced on the chance to extend the lead in the top of the fifth. With one on and one out from a Nate Byrne lead-off walk, Blevins singled ahead of an error that got Davis Ruston aboard and loaded up the bases.

Hunter King then sent a fly ball into left for the go-ahead run off an RBI single. Now sporting a 3-2 lead, Shelby County quickly got another run across off a passed ball before it took a 5-2 lead thanks to a Campbell Aderholt bunt single.

However, Sylacauga responded in a big way in the home half of the inning. The Aggies drew a lead-off walk to start, and two batters later, they ripped a two-run home run to make it a 5-4 deficit.

The Wildcats got right back in it in the top of the sixth, starting the inning with two walks ahead of a Pennington single to load up the bases. Colby Matherson then came home during the ensuing at-bat to extend the lead to 6-4, and Blevins scored another run with an RBI single shortly after.

After Shelby County took a 7-4 lead on that play, Ruston reached off a bunt to load up the bases, which proved crucial as King drew a walk right afterwards. That made it an 8-4 game before Aderholt finished off the scoring with an RBI single.

Pennington then got out of the final two innings without allowing a hit, working around an error and an intentional walk to seal the 9-4 win and a playoff berth. He got the complete-game win with seven strikeouts against three earned runs, four total runs, four hits and three walks.

Blevins went 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI and two runs, King finished 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI and Aderholt was 2-for-4 with two RBI.

The Wildcats will finish out the area series on Thursday, April 10 at 4:30 p.m. at Shelby County High School.