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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

HELENA – At the beginning of the 2025 softball season, the Helena Huskies sat down to discuss their goals for the upcoming year.

One of those? Win the area tournament.

That came to fruition in a big way on Monday, April 28 when Helena finished off a perfect 3-0 run through area play by rallying to defeat the Spain Park Jaguars 7-4 in the finals at Helena High School.

“I’m just really excited for our players, our fans and this community,” Sanders said. “It’s always exciting to win the area. That’s the first step.”

In the finals, Helena got on the board in the top of the first thanks to four walks in the inning that allowed Macie Brashears to score off a wild pitch for the 1-0 lead.

Spain Park struck back in the bottom of the first, using a lead-off walk to set up a one-out Thompson home run that gave her team a 2-1 lead. The Jags followed it up with singles from Roberts and King ahead of an RBI single by Whitaker, taking the lead to 3-1 in the process.

Parsons then came in to pitch and struck out each of the next two batters to end the inning, setting up the Huskies to respond in the top of the second.

After a hit by pitch and a walk gave Helena two on with one out, Sanderson brought both a run home with a two-run single to cut the gap to 3-2. The Huskies would then tie it up on an error just before the middle of the third.

Helena turned a double play to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the third, but Spain Park retook the 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth with a one-out solo home run from Bennett.

The Huskies struck back in the top of the fifth, taking advantage of a new Jags pitcher with a walk and an error. Two batters later, Henley Traywick hit a line drive to center that put her on third and cleared the bases to give Helena a 5-4 lead.

Macie Brashears walked to put runners on the corners and force another pitching change. Roberts got a strikeout to resume her time in the circle, but Draiss plated two more runs with an RBI double to take the lead to 7-4.

The Huskies shut it down with Macy Rooker pitching as she allowed just two hits in the final two innings to seal the area title.

Parsons got the win with three innings of one-run softball, striking out four batters while allowing three hits and two walks.

King was 4-for-4 in the loss while Roberts finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a run and earned five strikeouts in 4.2 innings in the circle.

Sanders was proud of Helena for battling from behind and securing the pair of two-run doubles that put his team in front for good.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these kids,” Sanders said. “These are great kids, great families, and just to fight every day when we’re down, they just always keep coming back. And it just says a lot about them, their character, their willingness to work and believe in each other, support each other and love each other.”

Their journey began in the first round when they faced the rival Pelham Panthers on Friday, April 25.

After a scoreless first inning, Helena’s offense got going with a Tatum Cooper single and Gracie Storey double in the bottom of the second. That left two on and one out for Izabel Vice, who popped out to left, but the ensuing throw to the catcher missed, plating two runs for the 2-0 lead.

That lead held all the way until the bottom of the fifth as both pitchers took command of the game.

Macie Brashears and Lily Sanderson started out the fifth inning with singles before Carrington Schiefer plated two more runs with an RBI single with one out in the inning.

That left the Huskies in front 4-0, and in the next inning, Vice finished off the game with a two-out solo home run to cap the 5-0 win.

Sanderson was 2-for-3 with a run, Schiefer finished 2-for-3 with two runs and Vice had two RBI.

Marlee Parsons went the distance and secured seven strikeouts in seven shutout innings, giving up just two hits and no walks.

Helena then saw Spain Park walk off against Chelsea later in the day and started out Monday’s slate with a battle against the Jags for a regional spot.

After a Macie Brashears walk and an error that got Lily Sanderson aboard in the top of the first, Addison Draiss sent both runners home with an RBI single for the 2-0 lead. The next two batters reached freely before the Jags changed pitchers, but a bases-loaded walk by Destiny Brashears made it 3-0.

Spain Park recovered by taking the next two outs, but a Henley Traywick single and Macie Brashears hit by pitch increased the lead to 5-0.

The Jags responded in the bottom half of the inning, taking singles from Wade and Weiner to set up a three-run shot from Klara Thompson to cut the deficit to 5-3.

Helena got back in business with a walk and an error with one out in the top of the second. Two batters later, Baleigh Sprouse sent a double to left field to clear the bases for the 7-3 lead.

Spain Park got a run back right after that as Charlee Bennett came up with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the second, making it a 7-4 game with just one swing of her bat.

The scoring quieted down until the top of the fifth, when with two on and two out, Sanderson sent a ball to left, and a missed catch led to a run scoring and an 8-4 lead for Helena.

Reagan Roberts bounced back in the bottom of the fifth with a first-pitch line-drive single to left that scored a run with two outs and cut the gap to 8-5.

Helena wasn’t finished though as an error and a single forced a pitching change and allowed Destiny Brashears to bring the final run home off a sacrifice fly for the 9-5 win.

Henley Traywick finished 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI while Sprouse was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run. Destiny Brashears and Draiss each had two RBI in the win.

Carrington Schiefer got the win with six strikeouts in five innings against four earned runs of five total runs, nine hits and no walks. Parsons got the save with two hitless innings while allowing just two walks and striking out two batters.

For Spain Park, Bennett was 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI, Weiner finished 2-for-4 with a run and Roberts went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Klara Thompson had three RBI in a 1-for-4 day.

That win put Helena in the area finals where they would beat the Jags once again to take the area title and a top seed at regionals.

The Huskies will now look to defend their Central Regional title on May 7 and 8 at Montgomery’s Lagoon Park. Sanders believes surviving a tough area with four good teams prepared them well for a deep run in regionals.

“It certainly helps us a lot,” Sanders said. “We had four great teams in our area this year, and some really good teams in this area are not going to make it to the next round. And so we feel like that we’ve been battle tested. We’ve played a lot of 7A schools this year, played some of the best teams in the state. We talked about that this year, how that was going to help us, and so I feel like it’s going to really help us.”