Helena advances to state championship with wins over Rehobeth, Hartselle, Saraland
Published 11:11 pm Thursday, May 15, 2025
Helena punched its ticket to the Class 6A state championship game with three-straight wins over Rehobeth, Hartselle and Saraland. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)
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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor
OXFORD – After finishing with his team’s third softball game of the day, Helena Huskies coach Mark Sanders admitted he hadn’t eaten anything all day.
However, his team feasted on three-straight victories to earn a seat at the biggest table–the Class 6A state championship game.
The Huskies defeated the Rehobeth Rebels 5-2, Hartselle Tigers 3-2 and Saraland Spartans 3-2 on Thursday, May 15 at Choccolocco Park in Oxford to punch their ticket to Friday’s state title game, the first of Sanders’ career.
“I really can’t explain it in words,” Sanders said. “I’m just so happy for our kids. So happy for our parents. We have great support in Helena from our admin all the way down to the parents and our assistant coaches. And we’re just excited for this opportunity. We don’t take it for granted.”
In the first game of the day against Rehobeth, Helena overcame a scoreless first inning to turn on the jets in the second.
With two on and one out thanks to a Destiny Brashears walk and a Tatum Cooper single, Gracie Storey hit a line-drive double to center, scoring both runners on the throw and taking a 2-0 lead.
Two batters later, that lead became 3-0 as Macie Brashears singled to left to score Storey. She then came up big two innings later with another RBI single, this time on a bunt that brought Baleigh Sprouse home for the 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth.
However, the Rebels made their move in the bottom of the fifth, getting the lead-off runner aboard thanks to an error before two singles in the next three at-bats. Rehobeth then plated two runs with a two-out RBI single to cut the deficit to 4-2.
That was all the offense the Rebels could muster though, and Helena put the game away in the top of the seventh after a pair of one-out singles led to a run off a pop out from Destiny Brashears, sealing the 5-2 win, the Huskies’ first at the state tournament since 2022.
Macie Brashears was 2-for-4 with two RBI, Storey finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and a run and Carrington Schiefer went 2-for-3 with a walk.
Marlee Parsons went the distance in the circle, working around two unearned runs and seven hits to strike out six batters and walk none of them.
Helena wasn’t as fortunate to start out in front in the second game of the day against Hartselle.
An error in the top of the second opened the door for the Tigers to hit a one-out RBI single, scoring the run on the throw for the 1-0 lead. While Schiefer got the next strikeout, Hartselle doubled up the lead to 2-0 with another RBI single.
After a scoreless third, the Huskies mounted their response in the bottom of the fourth. Hayden Traywick, Tatum Cooper and Sprouse singled to load up the bases with just one out in the inning, bringing up Storey.
Storey sent a grounder to third and forced an error, leading to two of the three runners scoring and tying up the game at 2-2.
Helena was unable to score the final runner, and that proved to be the last bit of offense from either team for a very long time.
The two teams didn’t score again for the next three innings, leading to extra innings, and neither team broke through in the eighth, ninth or 10th innings either. Schiefer was in control for all of it, going 10 innings and working around 10 hits while facing just two runs, both unearned. She also struck out six batters before yielding the circle to Parsons for the 11th.
Parsons turned a double play at home plate to end the 11th inning and give the Huskies some momentum, but after the first two batters of the bottom of the 11th got out, that threatened to steal it away from Helena.
However, Henley Traywick walked to keep the inning alive and set up a Macie Brashears single. Lily Sanderson was then hit by a pitch to load up the bases for Schiefer.
Then, she finished off her own win with an RBI single to short, sending the courtesy runner Claire Gourtney home for the walk-off 3-2 win.
In addition to her performance in the circle, Schiefer went 3-for-6 with the RBI single. Sanderson was 3-for-5 and Cooper finished 2-for-3 with a run.
In the final game of the day against Saraland, neither team could get an edge in the first two innings. That changed in the third when Macie Brashears and Sanderson started the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back singles.
Two batters later, a passed ball put both runners in scoring position before Hayden Traywick walked to load up the bases. From there, two separate errors by the Spartans catcher allowed runs to score, first during Destiny Brashears’ at-bat and then after she popped out to left.
Sanderson benefitted from the miscue after the throw to make it a 2-0 lead.
Saraland wasted little time tying the game back up, hitting back-to-back doubles in the top of the fourth to halve the deficit ahead of an infield error that scored the tying run.
Helena didn’t break the tie in the fourth, but a rally in the fifth paved the way for the victory.
Sanderson and Scheifer singled to start the inning, and an error at second base allowed both runners to reach scoring position. Hayden Traywick then stepped up and sent a ground ball single to short, throwing off the shortstop who didn’t make a throw while Sanderson scored.
Parsons then navigated a two-on spot in the sixth and overcame an errant throw to first by her defense in the seventh to seal the 3-2 win and a spot in the title game.
Parsons earned the complete game win, giving up two runs off nine hits while striking out three batters and walking none for the third-straight game.
After the final game, Sanders said that navigating the challenging bracket of contenders came down to his team’s desire to win and fulfill their dream of a state championship.
“They put each other first. They love each other. And today they wanted it more,” Sanders said. “They wanted it more than the opponents. And we talk about those three things every day, loving each other, unconditionally, having fun and wanting it more.”
Now, the Huskies will await who comes out of the lower bracket between Athens, Pell City and Saraland to face them in the Class 6A state championship on Friday, May 16 at 2 p.m. at Choccolocco Park’s Signature Field. They have two chances to earn one win and secure their first softball title in school history.
Sanders wanted himself and his team to soak up every ounce of the moment until they went to bed and then shift the focus to bringing home a historic blue map to the hilltop.
“We’re going to try to enjoy this one for the next few hours, but we’re going to wake up tomorrow with the mindset of going after that map,” Sanders said.
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