COTTONDALE — Tabernacle Christian’s baseball team ran into an old familiar foe in the Alabama Christian Education and Athletic Association state championships, and the result was the same as the previous three years.

Northside Methodist of Dothan won its fourth straight title with an 8-5 win over the Torches in Saturday’s final game at Tuscaloosa Christian School.

Jared Higginbotham was 3-for-5 with a home run and Austin Thompson was 4-for-4, but those efforts couldn’t overcome six errors and ten runners left on base. The Torches out-hit Northside 15 to 5. Jeremy Holcombe went six innings with nine strikeouts for Tabernacle.

Holcombe, Higginbotham and Thompson were named to the all-tournament team.

In softball, the Torches finished in third place, falling to Northside 7-5 in an elimination game. “We ran out of gas. Defensive errors along with not enough timely hits and baserunning errors cost us,” said coach Paul DuBose.