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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER ­– The road to Albertville and regionals will go through Alabaster as the Thompson Warriors officially clinched the Class 7A, Area 5 regular season championship and will now host the area tournament at Thompson High School.

The Warriors improved to 5-0 in area play with a 10-0 victory in six innings against the Hillcrest Patriots of Tuscaloosa on Tuesday, April 15 at Thompson High School.

Thompson got the offense going in the bottom of the first with a two-out rally. An Olivia Tindell single kept the inning alive long enough for the Warriors to load the bases off a walk and an error.

That brought up Hannah Hobbs, who singled to open up the scoring before a bases-loaded walk made the lead 2-0.

After getting the first two runners of the bottom of the second aboard, Thompson dropped to two outs but finished the inning strong with a two-run single by Kadyn Bush on the final play of the inning, doubling the lead to 2-0.

The Warriors loaded up the bases again in the bottom of the third thanks to singles by Hobbs and Morgan Adolphus and an error that got Whitney Holtzapfel on first. Mallory Flournoy then drew a four-pitch walk to plate a run before Kelsey Burden scored two with an RBI single.

The 7-0 lead held through the fourth and fifth innings as Hillcrest’s new pitcher settled into the game with a pair of scoreless frames despite Thompson getting two on in the fourth and a single in the fifth.

However, after Autumn Ingle struck out the side in the top of the sixth, the Warriors rallied to seal the deal in the home half of the inning.

With one out and one on thanks to an error, Blakely Davis and Holtzapfel hit back-to-back RBI doubles to take the lead to 9-0 and put Thompson on the cusp of winning by the run rule.

Ansley Haynes then singled to load up the bases, and two batters later, an error scored the winning run for the Warriors.

Hobbs finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run while Davis came in off the bench and went 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run. Burden and Bush each also finished with two RBI apiece.

Aubree Hooks took the win with six strikeouts in four scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and no walks. Ingle finished the job with two innings of one-hit softball, striking out four while walking nobody.

The Warriors moved to 32-3 with the win and will finish the area series on Thursday, April 17 at 4:30 p.m. at Hillcrest High School in Tuscaloosa. Thompson will then play its final tournament of the year at the Hoover Classic on April 18 and 19.