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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HOOVER – Despite taking a tough tournament-opening loss to Curry, the Oak Mountain Eagles rallied for three-straight wins to close the Hoover Classic.

Oak Mountain defeated the Dothan Wolves 7-1, Ardmore Tigers 8-3 and Faith Academy Rams 6-4 on April 18 and 19 at the Hoover Met Complex.

The wins helped the Eagles continue their torrid run of form. Since the end of area play on April 10, Oak Mountain won six of its final seven games of the regular season. The Eagles defeated Mortimer Jordan 5-3, Sumiton Christian 7-3 and Chilton County 12-1 for three wins in four days ahead of the Hoover Classic.

While Oak Mountain’s three-game win streak got snapped by an 8-0 loss to Curry, the Eagles bounced back with a big win over Dothan in the final game of the opening day of the tournament.

After the Eagles came up empty in a two-on spot in the top of the second, they rallied when faced with two outs in the top of the third. A walk followed by a Bella Williams bunt single set up Sheri Andrews to steal home for the 1-0 lead.

Brooke Monosky followed that up with an RBI single to double the lead to 2-0 ahead of the middle of the inning. She led the offense by going 2-for-3 including her RBI single.

The Wolves cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the third off a pair of quick singles to start the frame, the latter of which scored a runner from second following a stolen base.

However, Oak Mountain locked down on defense from there and didn’t allow a single run the rest of the way.

After an Ella Carrillo walk and Sophia Williams single to start the fourth, Addison Green cleared the bags with a two-run double for the 4-1 lead. Rylie Redden kept the momentum going with a single and a stolen base, and she reached third on a wild pitch, the same one that scored Green from second.

Bella Williams then brought Redden home off a sacrifice bunt to make it a 6-1 game, and Anna DuBose finished off the scoring with a sacrifice fly as the Eagles won 7-1.

Kelsey Crain took the win with four innings of one-run ball, working around six hits and two walks while earning three strikeouts. Marian Cummings then came in to seal the deal with two perfect innings and three strikeouts.

The next day against Ardmore, Oak Mountain wasted no time loading up the bases on the first three batters of the game and struck first with a run off a Monosky ground out. Cummings then walked to force a pitching change and set up a pair of run-scoring hits.

Carrillo came up with the first of the two, an RBI double off a fly ball to center, and Sophia Williams followed it up with an RBI single to take the lead to 3-0.

The Tigers got on the board with a two-out RBI single in the bottom half of the inning, but Oak Mountain earned the third out shortly after that.

The Eagles loaded up the bases once again in the top of the second, this time off two walks and an Andrew single. DuBose plated two of those runners with an RBI single on the very first pitch she saw, and two batters later, Cummings came in and got a sacrifice fly to put the lead at 6-1.

Ardmore cut the deficit to 6-2 in the bottom of the inning after getting an RBI ground out with two on and one out, and it got a third run in the bottom of the third off an error.

DuBose restored the four-run lead with an RBI single in the top of the fourth as she scored Bella Williams from second.

Oak Mountain got another pair of runners in scoring position off an Andi Zannis double and Andrews walk in the top of the fifth, and Zannis stole home ahead of the end of the inning to finish off the 8-3 win.

Andrews was 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs, Bella Williams finished 2-for-2 with a walk and three runs and DuBose went 2-for-3 with three RBI.

In the final game of the tournament against Faith, neither team broke through until the top of the fourth, when the Eagles used a pair of singles from Green and Monosky to set up a Cummings RBI double for the 1-0 lead.

That sparked a rally as Carrillo got another run home with a sacrifice fly before Sophia Williams made the lead 3-0 with a first-pitch RBI single. While the next batter struck out, Redden singled to set up an Andrews RBI double for the 4-0 advantage.

Oak Mountain went back to work in the top of the fifth with a run off a passed ball and another off an error, taking the lead to 6-0 in the process.

However, Faith loaded up the bases in the bottom of the fifth with a ground ball to short, a walk and a single to threaten the lead with one out. The Rams then got an RBI double ahead of an RBI ground out, and they finished the sequence with their second RBI double of the inning to cut the deficit to 6-4.

Oak Mountain worked a ground out on the ensuing at-bat to finish off the two-run victory.

Cummings took the win with three shutout innings, working around three hits and four walks to keep her ledger clean.

Monosky went 2-for-3 with a run while Carillo earned two RBI.

Oak Mountain finished the regular season 23-15 and will face the Hoover Buccaneers in the first round of the Class 7A, Area 6 tournament on Saturday, April 16 at 12:30 p.m. at Hoover High School.