HANCEVILLE — West Point ascended the championship mountain once again and planted yet another flag.

And on this particular flag read a simple message.

Fear the Thumb.

The Lady Warriors scored eight runs in the final two innings of Thursday’s title contest against Good Hope to claim a 13-6 victory and collect their fifth consecutive Cullman County Softball Tournament crown following a perfect showing at the annual double-elimination showdown.

Avery McClure, one of the program’s four seniors, couldn’t hide her excitement after the game.

“It’s really special, because we’ve had the best team chemistry we’ve ever had this year,” she said. “We’ve had a losing season, but we’ve stayed together. We came through, pulled this off and won our fifth straight title. Five in a row. We’re leaving it to the juniors now (laughs).”

West Point garnered an early 1-0 lead in the first inning following a bases-loaded double play, but the Lady  Raiders answered back right with three runs in the bottom half of the frame, taking advantage of two errors to tie the matchup before a Rebecca Norris sacrifice fly put them up 3-1.

The four-time defending champions, however, were undeterred.

Carlie Wilkins led off the second inning with a walk and came around to score on Braelee Quinn’s single — the ball snuck under the glove of Good Hope’s center fielder and scooted all the way to the fence — before McClure (RBI triple) and Olivia Ball (RBI single) guided the Lady Warriors back in front 4-3. McClure added an RBI walk in the third frame to increase the lead to two runs.

Good Hope responded in the bottom half of the inning, though, tying the back-and-forth clash following two productive at-bats by Jacqueline Hays (RBI single) and Norris (RBI groundout).

The score remained tied until the sixth inning, neither team willing to concede an inch.

Until Ball hit one a mile.

The junior standout smashed a two-run homer — Molly Pendley preceded the blast with a single — to hand West Point a 7-5 advantage.

It also loosened up the soon-to-be champions, who corralled two more runs in the frame on a wild pitch and an RBI walk by Chasilyn Morrow.

“I was just looking for a base hit,” Ball said. “I didn’t want to pop up or something. But once I hit that one out, I think everybody was like, ‘OK, we’ve got this. We’re in this.’ We got some momentum and kept it going.”

According to coach Eric Pendley, Ball’s clutch bomb was exactly what his team needed.

“That’s what we were looking for,” he said. “We were playing afraid to lose early. We were a little uptight and nervous out there. But I knew if we could get that timely hit, we’d be OK. We were really trying to see a lot of pitches, because they had already played a game earlier in the day. We finally got our break. Once that kind of happened, we started playing better defense behind Carlie. She pitched her tail off for us.”

The Lady Warriors squashed any hopes of a comeback in the seventh inning.

Pendley led off the frame with a double before Ball smacked her second homer of the night to make it 11-5. Makayla Brown followed with a solo shot of her own, and McClure claimed an RBI groundout a few batters later to stretch their squad’s lead out to eight runs.

“I wasn’t expecting that one at all,” said Ball of her final dinger. “I was comfortable and just swung (laughs). This one’s for the seniors. I really wanted to win this for them. And it’s awesome to win another one as well, because I know we’ve got a target on our back.”

Added McClure: “Coach kept telling us to stay patient at the plate. We struggle with slower pitching, but we finally got it together. It just clicked for us at the end.”

The Lady Raiders plated their final run of the contest on a wild pitch in the seventh inning.

Ball finished with three hits and five RBIs en route to collecting Offensive MVP honors. Pendley (three) and Quinn (two) put together multi-hit showings as well. McClure (three RBIs), Brown (RBI), Wilkins and Gracie Abbott swatted one hit apiece, while Morrow provided an RBI.

Ball, McClure, Brown and Hope Shedd were named to the All-Tournament Team. 

Skylar Tucker led Good Hope with three hits, while Hays (two RBIs) and Erika Woodall picked up two apiece. Norris (two RBIs), Bailey Swann and Angelina Flanagan rounded out the offensive attack with one hit apiece.

Swann (Defensive MVP), Tucker and Woodall also made the All-Tournament Team.

Fairview’s Katie Ball and Ally Hogeland rounded out the honorary squad.

The night — and another championship — belonged to West Point, though.

“We’ve had a few struggles this year, but I feel like we’re a good team that hasn’t put it all together,” Pendley said. “But I see how hard they work at practice. This was one of their goals. You become so close and really get so involved with these kids that you get excited for them when something like this happens.”

His daughter, Molly, shared similar sentiments.

“I’m so pumped,” the beaming sophomore said. “I was glad we won it for our seniors. We wanted to do that.”

McClure, Morrow, Shedd and Josey Gammon are the Maroon and White’s  seniors.

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% Good Hope 13, Fairview 7: The Lady Raiders punched their ticket to the championship game with a win over the Lady Aggies earlier in the day.

Bailey Swann (three hits and one RBI), Jacqueline Hays (two hits and two RBIs) and Erika Woodall (two hits) were the top contributors for Good Hope.

Kailee Shikle (RBI), Angelina Flanagan (RBI), Skylar Tucker (RBI), Rebecca Norris (RBI) and Amber Sterling provided one hit apiece as well.

Fairview, meanwhile, was paced by Devan Fulmer (three RBIs), Katie Ball (two RBIs), Kaitlyn Benson (RBI) and Kennedy Chambers, all of whom slugged two hits apiece.

Ally Hogeland (hit), Rebekah DeBlanc (hit) and Abby Duke (RBI) also contributed.