Corner first baseman Lauren Dill sinks into her defensive stance during a game in Gardendale on Feb. 25, 2020. 

It was a busy weekend in the sun.

With no rain in the forecast, several NJN-area baseball/softball teams took the field on Saturday. Find a team-by-team summary below. 

The Gardendale baseball team swept Locust Fork at home on Saturday in a doubleheader. The Rockets (6-3) poured six runs across in the sixth inning to end the opener by mercy rule, 10-0. It was all Gardendale again in Game 2, as the Rockets took an 11-1 decision in five innings. 

Eli Moore pitched a win in the morning session, tossing a complete six innings of two-hit, shutout ball. In 86 pitches, Moore walked one batter and recorded 11 strikeouts. 

Eight different Gardendale batters drove in runs, including Will Nesmith and David Harris who finished with two RBIs apiece. Coach Ryan Keedy’s team drew 11 walks to go with eight hits and 10 RBIs against Locust Fork.

First baseman Colby Tittle sparked the afternoon session with a three-run double, which represented one of the Rockets’ 12 total hits in an 11-1 victory. 

Tittle was joined by Moore (2) and Connor Williams (2) in the multi-RBI club. All three doubled in the win. 

Justin Valentine scored the win in four innings pitched. He allowed four hits, one run and struck out six batters. 

The Corner softball team went 3-1 on Saturday to reach the semifinals of the Wallace State High School Tournament gold bracket. After back-to-back wins over Cordova and Handley in pool play, the Yellow Jackets (8-3) earned the gold bracket 3-seed and held off Danville 2-1 in their bracket opener. 

Danville jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but that’s all Corner pitcher Olivia Cummings would allow. Her offense would even things up at 1-1 in the home-half of the first and scratched another run in in the second to end the scoring at 2-1. 

Cummings and leadoff Jaden Goodwin scored Corner’s only two runs, while Lauren Dill singled in the team’s only RBI. 

The Yellow Jackets would eventually fall to defending Class 6A state champion Buckhorn 5-0 in the tournament semifinals.

In a 10-0 win over Cordova, Cummings pitched a no-hit shutout. She struck out eight batters in a complete five innings. 

Senior Lauren Higginbotham led the offense with two hits and four RBIs, while McKenzie Wagnon, Cummings and Dill each chipped in with two hits against Cordova.

Corner scored six runs in the top of the first on its way to a 14-2 mercy-rule victory over Handley. 

Higginbotham added three more hits, including a pair of doubles, and four more RBIs to her tournament total. Dill followed closely with three hits and three RBIs for the Yellow Jackets. Cummings connected with a two-run homer.

Self went the distance in the circle and struck out five Handley batters. 

Against a field of 24 teams, including Gardendale and Corner, at the Wallace State High School Tournament on Saturday, the Mortimer Jordan softball team won four of its six games to claim the silver bracket championship. 

The Blue Devils (6-4) scored wins over Danville, Good Hope, Guntersville and Pleasant Valley on their way to the silver bracket championship game, where they beat James Clemons 2-0. No individual statistics were provided.

Gardendale softball also took the field in Hanceville, winning two of its four games in the Wallace State High School Tournament. The Rockets (9-5) beat James Clemons 2-0 and Winston County 10-3. Their losses came at the hands of Buckhorn, 2-1, and Bob Jones, 7-6. 

Catcher Sarah Beth Brake provided the offense in a 2-0 win over James Clemens, connecting with a two-run home run in the third. That’s all the support Preslie Ross needed, as she pitched a six-inning shutout. The lefty hurled 17 first-pitch strikes on her way to 11 strikeouts. 

Ross recorded her second wino of the day in a 10-3 final over Winston County. She tossed the first three frames, allowing no hits and one run, before handing it over to Natalie Snow in the fourth. 

Brake, who went 6 for 11 on the day, enjoyed another strong game at the plate with three more hits and another RBI. However, freshman Kara Jasper did most of the damage against Winsont County with a single, a double and four RBIs. 

According to head coach Barry Brake, Gardendale walked in the winning run against Buckhorn and lost to Bob Jones on a two-run blast in the international tiebreaker after scoring one run in the top-half. 

The Fultondale baseball team notched a two-game sweep on Saturday at home. An 8-7 win over Holly Pond was followed by an 8-2 victory over Carver-Birmingham to improve the Wildcats to 3-5 on the year. 

Austin Kyle pitched all seven innings against Holly Pond, allowing five runs on 11 hits to go with two strikeouts. His offense kept quiet for the first five innings, but came alive in the sixth with eight runs to take an 8-7 lead. That score later went final.

Tyler Grayson paced the offense with two hits and two RBIs. Nick Weldon added three hits and TJ Mcwilliams singled twice win an RBI. 

Fultondale got another complete-game start in Game 2. Joe Hamaker tossed 102 pitches, recording 18 strikeouts and allowing two runs on five hits in an 8-2 win over Carver-Birmingham. 

Offensively, Hamaker found two hits, including a triple. He joined Weldon, Mcwilliams and Andrew Rorrillo with two hits apiece for the Wildcats. 

Corner and Mortimer Jordan cranked up Class 5A, Area 11 play with a weekend baseball series.