Action from the 2018 State Softball Tournament in Montgomery. 

MONTGOMERY—Gardendale head softball coach Barry Brake couldn’t muster many words on Saturday afternoon. Trying to fight back tears, he told his girls to exit Lagoon Park with their heads held high.

They did, after all, have a lot to be proud of. They opened the season ranked first in the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 6A poll and held the top spot for each of the seven weeks of publication. They won their second straight Area 12 championship behind a perfect 9-0 record in league play.

With a dominant performance in Tuscaloosa, the Rockets won three games by a combined score of 33-4 to win the North-Central Regional championship. They also won two games at the state tournament, earning them a third-place finish for the second straight season in Class 6A.

In nearly identical fashion as last May, Gardendale opened the state tournament 2-0 on Friday but returned for two straight loses on Saturday—this time at the hands of eventual state champion Hartselle, 6-4, and runner-up Saraland, 4-1.

No. 1-ranked Gardendale ends the season with a record of 50-10. Brake got emotional when talking about his two departing seniors: first baseman Chandler Mims and shortstop Chaney Phillips.

“Fantastic kids. For four years I’ve been able to count on [Phillips]. You know what you’re going to get, she’s going to go out there and compete, said Brake. “Chandler has come through injury after injury. I just told her mother ‘I told you four years ago that she was going to be a big part of what we did here’ and that held true.”

“I’m going to miss them. I already miss them.”

Phillips and Mims leave Gardendale with 133 games won over the past three years.

Hartselle 6, Gardendale 4

Gardendale was one win away from the state championship game. After sweeping two games from No. 2 Hazel Green and No. 5 Saraland on Friday, the Rockets were cruising to a 4-2 lead over the Tigers as the winners’ bracket game slipped into the bottom of the fifth inning.

However, one big hack from Mackenzie Jackson turned a two-run lead into a two-run deficit. Her fifth-inning grand slam served as the go-ahead, game-winning hit for Hartselle. The Rockets dropped into the losers’ bracket in Montgomery.

Junior Carlee McCondichie picked up fellow junior Savannah Pennington in the fourth. Pennington started the half-inning with a double into straightaway centerfield and scored on another double by McCondichie as the lead grew to 4-2.

Pennington protected that lead in the fourth with an athletic stab at the centerfield wall. She gave chase to a deep drive from Brooklyn Wallace, going up and over the temporary fence to bring back what would’ve been the Tigers’ second home run of the day.

Sarah Beth Brake broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI double down the left side in the third, but Gardendale went on to strand three runners on base. The Rockets left a total of 10 runs on the base paths Saturday morning.

Junior Kylee Franklin homered her first time up. She cleared the left-field fence for a 2-0 advantage in the top of the first. Hartselle’s Kalli Cartee answered with a two-run blast in the home-half.

Coach Christy Ferguson’s Tigers entered the state tournament with a program-record 58 home runs, and it was the long ball that beat Gardendale.

Saraland 4, Gardendale 1

It would’ve been a great play by Carlee McCondichie—just one of several for the Auburn pledge in Lagoon Park this week—but the ball shook free from her glove. As the would-be third out dropped to the infield dirt, it was as if the heart of every Rocket fan fell with it.

Two Spartans ran home and a 1-all tie became a 3-1 deficit for Gardendale in the top of the final frame, which began with a 1-0 maroon and white lead. Saraland, after being blanked by Haley Horton for six innings, scored four runs on three hits in the seventh to earn a 4-1 win and end Gardendale’s dream season.

Saraland leadoff Camryn McLemore poked a two-out RBI up the middle to save the Spartans’ season and tie things up at 1-1.

Abbie Waters scored Gardendale’s only run in the sixth. She started the inning with a soft line into rightfield and took second base on a little bobble in the outfield. Savannah Pennington moved her up with a sacrifice bunt before McCondichie brought her in with a groundout to second. McCondichie pumped her fist down the first-base line. Her Rockets led 1-0 and looked bound for a championship rematch with Hartselle, but it was not to be.

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