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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALEXANDER CITY – The Calera Eagles staked their place atop Class 6A, Area 5 as champions as they finished out area play without a loss on their record.

Calera finished off a 4-0 area run with a sweep of the Benjamin Russell Wildcats, first a 4-2 win on Wednesday, April 9 at the Eagle Sports Complex before a 12-9 victory in 10 innings on Thursday, April 10 in Alexander City.

The first game of the series was a pitchers’ duel through three-and-a-half innings as Aiden Agee took control for the Eagles.

That set them up to go ahead 3-0 in the bottom of the fourth, first off a DJ White RBI single before a one-out ball to short brought Preston Fulton home and led to an out at second. Camden Russell finished the rally with a first-pitch RBI double for the three-run lead.

However, the Wildcats responded with a big two-out rally after a lead-off error in the top of the sixth, earning an RBI single and an RBI double on back-to-back plays to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Calera stood strong and played small ball off a David Gutierrez lead-off single in the home half of the inning to seal the win. A stolen base and a sacrifice bunt got him to third ahead of a Russell sacrifice fly to make the lead 4-2.

Agee then slammed the door shut in the top of the seventh. He earned the complete-game win, not allowing any earned runs while working around two unearned runs, three hits and two walks.

White and Russell were both 2-for-2 as Russell had two RBI and White had one, and Gutierrez finished 2-for-3.

The next day on the road, Calera got off to a much faster start. The Eagles turned a lead-off Kegan Johnson walk into a one-out, two-run home run from Mac Graham, opening up a 2-0 lead in the process.

After getting two on and one out to start the second, back-to-back RBI singles from Johnson and Jaiden Brown took the lead to 5-0.

However, the Eagles walked three of the first five batters in the bottom of the second, one of which was with the bases loaded to cut the deficit to 5-1.

AJ Johnson responded in a big way in the top of the third with a one-out solo shot to center, retaking the five-run lead.

Following a scoreless fourth, a walk and a hit by pitch to start the top of the fifth opened up a world of opportunities for Calera. While two of the next three batters struck out, a one-out single left the bases loaded for Brown, who plated two runs with an RBI single for the 8-1 lead.

Ben Russell came roaring back in the bottom of the fifth, quickly loading up the bases before scoring four runs on the next three hits to cut the gap to 8-5. Two batters later, a grounder back to the pitcher made it a two-run ball game with two innings to go.

The Wildcats then got three-straight outs after allowing a pair of base runners to start the sixth. Calera similarly battled through some early offense in the bottom of the sixth to earn two outs, but a two-run single and another run off an error gave Ben Russell a 9-8 lead going into the seventh. However, the Eagles found themselves down to their last out with nobody on.

That was when Brown stepped to the plate and ripped a triple to keep the inning alive. Graham followed that up with an RBI single to tie the game at 9-9 and force extra innings.

After the eighth and ninth went by without a run, control issues started to plague the Wildcats. They let the first three batters reach freely to load the bases, and Herring then drew a bases-loaded walk to take a 10-9 lead. Two batters later, Kegan Johnson made it a two-run lead with a sacrifice fly.

The next two batters then walked to score one more run and make it a three-run cushion for Dalton Ash, who finished off the 12-9 win by allowing just one hit in the 10th.

He was credited with the win, pitching the final six innings and allowing just one earned run against three total runs, six hits and two walks while securing four strikeouts.

Brown finished 4-for-5 with a walk, four RBI and two runs, Gutierrez was 3-for-4 and Graham went 2-for-6 with a walk, four RBI and a run.

Calera will host the Class 6A, Area 8 runner-up in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs on April 18 and 19 at the Eagle Sports Complex, but first, the 15-15 Eagles will finish out the regular season with a home game against the Marbury Bulldogs on Monday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m.