Chelsea falls short of state championship after special run for seniors ends in game three
Published 7:21 pm Thursday, May 15, 2025
The Chelsea Hornets fell just three outs short of a state championship against Hartselle but the fight throughout the series showcased the pride the seniors have in their community. (For the Reporter/Cari Dean)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
JACKSONVILLE – A wild ride for the Chelsea Hornets that dated back to when the Class of 2025 first played together in youth ball ended on Thursday, May 15 at Rudy Abbott Field as they came just three outs away from winning a Class 6A state baseball championship.
Chelsea lost game two to the Hartselle Tigers 4-3 before a sixth-inning lead in game three turned into a 9-3 defeat and a 2-1 series loss.
However, the defeat didn’t change the tightly competitive nature of the series or the pride that the Hornets had in their effort.
“I’m super proud of them,” Chelsea coach Michael Stallings said. “I know if you don’t win the third game, it don’t feel the same. And it doesn’t take away from how proud I am with them and everything that they’ve done for our program and what it means to me as a coach.”
Just like the first game of the series, both pitchers were locked in to start game two. Jackson Price retired the first six batters of the game, as did Hartselle’s starter.
The Hornets then broke through in the top of the third, starting out the inning with a pair of runners on first and second. Aiden Hughes then singled with one out to load up the bags for Chase Lackey.
Then, on the first pitch he saw, Lackey doubled to score all three runners and take a 3-0 lead.
However, Hartselle hit two singles and walked to load up the bases with one out in the bottom of the third. The Tigers responded in kind to Lackey’s bases-clearing hit with one of their own as they rocketed a triple to the warning track to tie the game at 3-3.
Hartselle then scratched across the go-ahead run with a ground out to take the 4-3 lead ahead of the end of the inning when Price made way for Paxton Stallings.
Chelsea couldn’t respond at the plate down the stretch as they went hitless between a lead-off single in the fourth and a lead-off single by Luke Neill in the top of the seventh. The Hornets got Neill to second with a sacrifice bunt, but a strikeout reduced them to two outs.
On the very next pitch, Hughes singled to right, but the runner made the turn for home to try and steal the tying run. However, the Tigers right fielder gunned him down with time to spare to end the game and seal the 4-3 win for Hartselle.
The win came despite three perfect innings of relief and five strikeouts from Paxton Stallings, and the Hornets turned to him to start the third and decisive game of the series.
The senior continued his dominance in game three, keeping the slate clean through the first four innings. That included a bases-loaded jam in the top of the third after a pair of one-out singles.
However, he didn’t get a single run of support across his 7.1 innings on the mound where he earned 10 strikeouts, and Hartselle took advantage of that in the top of the fifth.
With a runner on second and one out, the Hornets made the move to the bullpen and immediately gave up an RBI single to left and the 1-0 lead. A double then put runners on second and third ahead of another pitching change, and a wild pitch just before the end of the inning doubled up the lead.
Chelsea tried to respond in the bottom of the fifth, recovering from a bunt into a double play with a Hughes double and Lackey single to put runners on second and third. The next batter popped out to end the inning though.
The breakthrough finally came in the bottom of the sixth. After singles from Mack Breazeale and Aiden Craven to start the inning, Paxton Stallings took the first pitch he saw right down the left field line to tie up the game with a two-run double.
A Neill ground out moved the runner to third, and the eighth-grader Bryant Wisdom dropped a 1-1 pitch into left for the go-ahead RBI single to take a 3-2 lead.
That gave Chelsea all the momentum going into the top of the seventh, but the bottom fell out after that. Back-to-back walks gave way to a hit batter to load up the bases with no outs, and a bases-loaded walk tied up the game.
The Hornets then made their fifth pitching change in search of an answer, but another bases-loaded walk gave Hartselle the 4-3 lead. The Tigers then blew the lead wide open with three RBI singles in the next four batters to make it a 9-3 game.
It proved to be the deciding blow as Chelsea couldn’t score with two runners on in the bottom of the seventh and Hartselle won the state championship.
After game three, coach Stallings knew that the team would have to fight for every inch at the plate and on the mound, and he said the talent of the three Tigers starters made it difficult for them to scratch across runs.
“I think that the guys they threw at us were just very competitive,” coach Stallings said. “And by that, I mean, they’re competing to the point to where they’re living in the strike zone. They’re not giving you freebies, so you’re going to have to go and earn it, and their stuff’s good. So, you combine those things and it makes a really good pitcher for them.”
It was an emotional moment postgame as Michael and Paxton Stallings stared down the reality of their final game together as coach and player.
Since coach Stallings had a personal stake in the senior class, he and the seniors had been together since they first stepped on the baseball diamond at six years old. That time together on and off the field built an unbreakable bond, one that Hughes used as fuel to go and play for a state title.
“I’ve played with him since I was six or seven years old,” Hughes said of the Stallings family. “We knew this be our last our last ride together, and it just meant everything to be able to go and have a chance to compete for this. Sucks we didn’t win, but we know we gave it all we have for each other.”
Now, with the Class of 2025’s legacy cemented as one of the best in school history, coach Stallings hopes they set the example for the next generation the same way the 2019 team set the standard of reaching Oxford and Jacksonville to them.
He takes pride in the way they represented Chelsea on the biggest stage in high school baseball and hopes others felt the same way.
“I think it means a lot to our community, and it means a lot to me that we put a product on the field that’s going to represent Chelsea, and it’s going to represent our community in a positive way and it’s something that they’ll be proud of,” coach Stallings said. “And I think maybe that’s just, this was my 16th year at Chelsea and it means a lot to me. I’ve lived in the community for 20-plus years now, and I feel like if it means that much to me for our program, not just as a coach, but as a citizen that lives in that community, I know it means that much for all the people that come and support us. So just super proud of our seniors and how they went about their business and kind of the legacy that they built for our program.”
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