Ashford swept out of state

MONTGOMERY — Ashford went home earlier than it wanted from the Class 4A softball state tournament.

The ninth-ranked Yellow Jackets lost 7-1 to No. 10 Central-Florence in the opener, then 12-1 in five innings to No. 7 Alexandria.

“We didn’t play our best ball,” said Jackets coach Sherrill Hicks, whose team finished its season at 24-15. “We played good ball in the area tournament and in
the regional tournament.

“We’ve got some good talent, but we have to work for everything we get. There are a lot of teams staying at home that wish they were here.”

Ashford opened against Central and led 1-0 going to the bottom of the fifth. Christina Rogers went 2-for-3 and drove in Patricia Nowell with Ashford’s only run.

“We played well in the first game until the fifth inning. After the fifth, the wheels came off,” Hicks said.

Central scored five in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Jessi Law was 3-for-3 with two singles and a double. Darah Gilchrist was 3-for-4 with a double.
Candace Arreola and Patty Curvas had two hits each.

Cathy Hathcock (28-7) tossed a three-hitter and struck out six.

Aleigha Goss, who took the loss for Ashford, had the Yellow Jackets’ other hit.

Alexandria 12, Ashford 1, 5 innings: Jessica English drove in Ashford’s only run with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning.

Christina Rogers ripped a one-out triple for what would be the Jackets’ only hit. Leslie Morrow and Tamara Williams were both hit by pitches to load the bases.
English followed with a fly to left field that scored Rogers.

Alexandria pitcher Erin Patterson got out of the jam and didn’t give up a hit the rest of the game.

Haley Muncher was 3-for-3 with two doubles. Hali Presley had two hits. The Lady Cubs scored two runs in the first, one in the second, five in the third and four
in the fourth.

“Alexandria’s a really good ball club,” Hicks said. “You’ve got the best eight. The way they’ve got it set up with regions now, the best teams are here. You just
have to play when you come.”

Hicks said the Jackets improved enormously from the start of the season to this point.

“It was a real odd season because we had so many rainouts. You never got to build any momentum. Every time you think you had something going you
stopped. Then we had the swine flu thing that brought everything to a halt,” he said.

“In spite of that, we battled through it. We played as well as we possibly could.”