Mortimer Jordan softball coach Stephen Manning holds a runner on third base during the 5A state softball tournament.

Morgan Maze stood in the right-field grass on Field 3 at Lagoon Park and hugged her dad. She rocked back and forth with Shawn tightly in her grasp, tears rolling off her cheeks, and shared a moment that meant “everything.”

Shawn has been her head coach on the travel-ball circuit and at Mortimer Jordan High School for years. In many ways, their reign came to an end on Wednesday night with a 4-3 loss to No. 1 Springville on the first day of the Class 5A state tournament.

The Blue Devils (33-22) started the day with a 13-3 loss to No. 6 Ardmore before surviving a losers’ bracket game against Jemison, 13-3 and finally ending their season with a hard-fought battle with the Tigers.

“I told them I was proud of them for fighting hard,” said Shawn following the final game. “I think they played one of their better games of the season there in that last game and that’s what you expect. You start off the year building and learning things. You hope that they get better and I think tonight they played one of their better games.”

Game 1: Ardmore 13, Mortimer Jordan 3 (5 innings)

It was a one-run game going to the bottom of the fifth, then the flood gates opened up. Ardmore, the sixth-ranked team in Class 5A, sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom-half, recording eight hits and scoring nine runs to inflict the mercy rule and send the eighth-ranked Blue Devils to the losers’ bracket.

Starter Madi Maze kept things tight in her 3-plus inning in the circle, but was chased in the fourth. Ardmore led 4-3 when things fell apart for the Area 11 runner-ups.

Tiger senior Addison Hurst placed what was suppose to be a sacrifice bunt down the first-base line in the fifth, but a throwing error followed by a fielding error in right field cleared the bases and sent Hurst all the way around for an inside-the-park home run to give Ardmore a 7-3 cushion. An RBI line drive by Mackenzie McCormack made it 8-3 before Olivia Stafford and L.B. Smith teamed up for a couple RBI singles. Hurst then stepped in for a three-run walk-off double.

For Mortimer Jordan, third baseman Anna Purvis went 2 for 2 at the plate with a third-inning RBI bunt, which tied things up at 2-2. Maia Townsend kept things going with a run-scoring line drive into left that gave the Blue Devils their only lead at 3-2.

Smith homered in her first at-bat, giving Ardmore a two-run lead in the first.

Game 2: Mortimer Jordan 13, Jemison 3 (6 innings)

Morgan Maze tore it open in the bottom of the fifth.

The senior, battling for her prep sports career, barreled up on a 2-out grand slam which cleared the temporary fence in left-center field and increased the Mortimer Jordan lead to 9-3 en route to a 13-3 mercy-rule victory over Jemison in six innings.

“I was just looking for a good pitch that I could help my team with. I was really just trying to hit a ground ball or a line drive, I wasn’t trying to do anything crazy,” said Morgan. “It just worked out.”

The shortstop finished 3 for 4 with a pair of singles to go with the fifth-inning slam. Junior Baleigh Overton matched her 3-for-4 effort and drove in two runs of her own.

Eighth-grader Ainsley Grimes also cleared the fence in left-center, sending three runs in after a leadoff walk by Danilyn Moore and a single by Anna Purvis. Senior Savannah Chaviers later walked it off with an RBI chop to first base.

Madi Maze got the start—her second of three on the day—and held the Panthers to three runs on five hits to go with 13 strikeouts. She struck out the side in the fourth and sixth innings.

“I’m extremely proud of [Madi] tonight,” said Shawn. “She’s had some issues this year with her back, but she stuck it out and pitched a heck of a game.”

Game 3: Springville 4, Mortimer Jordan 3

The Blue Devils stormed out to a 3-1 lead in the first inning, but a two-run fifth and a wild pitch in the sixth was enough to send Springville off with a 4-3 win.

Junior right-hander Abby Swaney worked a complete game for the top-ranked Tigers, and bounced back from a tough first inning to throw six straight innings of shutout softball. She allowed a total of four hits, three of which came in the first.

“She just moves it well,” said Morgan of Swaney. “She knows how to hit her corners and she knows how to work with the umpire, so if they’re giving her the corners, she knows how to hit that. She’s a great pitcher.”

However, Maia Townsend, an eighth-grader, scorched a bases-loaded triple off the veteran pitcher in the bottom of the first. Townsend locked in with two outs and sent it through the left-center gap for three RBIs and a 3-1 lead.

That would be Mortimer Jordan’s only offensive spark of the contest.

“I felt confident and I was excited. Even if it didn’t turn out as good as we thought it was going to, I’m still happy we made it here because that’s all we can ask for,” said Morgan as she walked off the field with her teammates one last time.

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.