MONTGOMERY — Anyone who doesn’t believe that one play can change the momentum of a game, should have been in the stands on Friday.

After Hayden fell into a 3-0 deficit in the AHSAA Class 5A State Softball Tournament winner’s bracket finals against Springville — a team thay have faced more than any this season, and know better than any other opponent — a home run to left field by Kaitlyn Kelley with a runner on first sure seemed to be a game-changer.

Except the game didn’t change. The ruling by the umpire did.

Instead of what appeared to all others to be a homer, the play was ruled as a ground rule double. The runners were sent back to second and third bases, and that’s where they stayed when the third out was made in the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Tigers went on to win the game 3-0 behind the pitching of eighth-grade ace Abby Swaney, then came back in the championship game to pitch a two-hit shutout over the Wildcats 2-0, and win their first-ever state title in softball.

The first day of play at Lagoon Park saw Hayden dominate its first two opponents. The Wildcats routed Shelby County by an 8-0 score in the opener, then got past third-ranked Alabama Christian Academy 5-0 in the second round.

In each of those games, pitcher Sharley Miller struck out eight opposing batters, and freshman catcher Tori Knighten smacked home runs.

So after the first day of play, the top-ranked Cats seemed well on their way to a second state championship in three seasons — but they faced their old nemesis in the opening game of the second day, bright and early Friday morning.

The winner’s bracket final started out as a pitcher’s duel between Miller and Swaney. The Tigers did all of their offensive damage in the top of the fourth inning, when Katie Emmal hit a bases-loaded single to right field, scoring two runs. Another run scored on an Annie Nolan base hit.

Things started off with promise for the Wildcats in the bottom of the inning, as Miller walked with one out. Kelley then came up to bat, and swatted a long fly ball that landed 10 feet past the left field fence. In her haste to chase down the ball, Piper Long crashed into the temporary fence and knocked it down.

The home plate and first base umpires quickly signaled a home run, but the third base umpire — the one closest to the play — said that the fence was instead knocked down by the force of the ball hitting it, despite the fact that the ball settled on the ground behind the mesh fencing well before Long ran into it.

The ruling moved Kelley to second base and Miller to third, and resulted in a protracted argument between the umpire and Wildcats coach John Simmons, to no avail.

The Cats left the two runners on base after consecutive fly balls to right, caught by Emmal.

“It was the turning point for us,” Simmons said. “It changed our mindset, it changed everything. We just had a hard time shaking it.”

The reversal in momentum took the wind out of Hayden’s sails. They managed to reach base only twice more, on a hit and an error, and lost to break a 17-game winning streak, and on to face a loser’s bracket game against Beauregard.

That game turned into an 11-inning marathon, which ended when Brooke Meadows hit a solo walk-off home run for the 5-4

victory.

That win set up the championship game clash with the Tigers yet again, but the exhausted Wildcats could muster just two hits against a rested Swaney. The game stayed scoreless until the seventh inning, when Springville scored on a Meg Sullivan double and a sacrifice bunt by Emmal.

Hayden’s Miller, Meadows, Knighten and Savannah Woodard were named to the all-tournament team. Swaney, who gave up just two runs in four tournament games, was named the MVP.

It is the first state softball championship for Springville.

The Wildcats finished the season with a 40-8 record.