Enterprise advances with 15-inning win

MONTGOMERY — Enterprise, the Class 6A softball equivalent of the Little Engine That Could, found a way to stay alive Thursday night at the state tournament.

The Lady Cats (36-23-1) scratched out a run in the 15th inning and freshman Jostlyn Higgerson made it stand up for a 1-0 victory over second-ranked Hueytown in an elimination game.

Higgerson got the win in a pitcher’s duel against Hueytown’s Leigha Streetman, who turned in one of the great performances of the tournament.

Streetman pitched all three of Hueytown’s games Thursday and compiled a combined 61 strikeouts, two runs and seven hits in 32 innings. She lost 1-0 to
Northview in 10 innings, beat Huntsville 3-0 before facing Enterprise.

In the third game, Streetman was nearly perfect — she retired the first 20 batters she faced and finished with 30 strikeouts and allowed just four hits — but that
wasn’t good enough to stop the Lady Cats.

“She’s a beast,” Enterprise coach Ben Thompson said of the Golden Gophers’ ace. “But my freshman stood in there toe-to-toe. She didn’t have all the
strikeouts, but she pitched her heart out.”

After the equivalent of two scoreless games, Enterprise broke through in the top of the 15th.

Ashley Carnley led off with an infield single up the middle. Januar Page bunted her to second. Jordan Bullock then beat out a drag bunt that put runners on first
and third with one out. That was Bullock’s second hit of the game.

Adrienne Bradley squeezed a bunt back at Streetman. The pitcher threw home, but a charging Carnley slid under the tag with the run.

“I knew I was in there, but I just looked up at her like, I was safe, right?” Carnley said.

She was.

“It looked like the throw was in time, but the tag was a little slow,” Thompson said. “We were fortunate to get somebody to third with less than two outs.”

Higgerson scattered seven hits and struck out nine Golden Gophers. Thompson said he asked his pitcher how she felt.

“I told him I could keep going, like the Energizer Bunny,” Higgerson said after the game. “Right now, I’m pretty tired, actually.”

Thompson said he considered taking her out several times, particularly when Hueytown put baserunners aboard in the seventh, ninth and 13th innings.

“But she’s been so clutch for us,” the coach said. “It’s not that I didn’t have confidence in (pitchers) Brittany (Perry) or Kaitlin (Strickland). Jostlyn was just that
good. Brittany and Kaitlin will have to step up for us (Friday).”

The coach also credited his defense for “showing up” against Hueytown.

“We were horrible against Sparkman, but we played good defense against Hueytown,” Thompson said.

Enterprise will play Satsuma today at 10 a.m. The winner of that game will play the Northview-Sparkman loser for the right to play in the championship round.

“Win or lose tomorrow, I’ll say again that we play in the best area in the state,” Thompson said. “We’ve made school history at Enterprise High School, with at
least a top four finish in the state.”

Enterprise faced the top three ranked teams in the state on Thursday.

No. 1 Sparkman 6, Enterprise 1: Enterprise took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, but Sparkman got four in the fifth and two more in the sixth to send the Lady Cats to the losers’ bracket.

Januar Page doubled and scored on Adrienne Bradley’s base hit to left for Enterprise.

Jordan Bullock was 2-for-3.

Higgerson, Perry and Strickland all pitched for Enterprise.

Enterprise 5, No. 3 Tuscaloosa County 0: Brittany Perry earned the win, and she and Higgerson held Tuscaloosa County to just two hits. The Lady Cats broke it open with a run in the fifth and four more in the sixth.

Perry (13-7) and Higgerson struck out seven batters. Allison Rice took the loss for Tuscaloosa County.

Enterprise scored first in the top of the fifth. Bailey Harrelson reached on an error and advanced when Mercedes Sanders reached on an error on a fielder’s choice.

Januar Page’s infield single brought home Harrelson.

Enterprise added insurance in the sixth. Ashley Brown singled. With one out, Kayla Logsdon walked, Terra Rasmussen was hit by a pitch and Sanderson
walked to score Brown. Ashley Carnley was hit by a pitch to bring in Logsdon and make it 3-0. Jordan Bullock later reached on an error that allowed two runs
to score.