Cullman’s baseball team may not have won a Class 6A state championship this year, but Owen Lovell tried his best to make it so.

The Mississippi State signee nabbed three hits, three RBIs and two walks in a three-game championship series against Helena last week in Montgomery, but the top-ranked Bearcats fell to the No. 2 Huskies 5-4 in a decisive Game 3 to deny them a sixth Blue Map.

Lovell capped off a wonderful season and impressive career with the Black and Gold by leading his team in home runs (seven), RBIs (44), doubles (17), stolen bases (22), total bases (96), batting average (.421), on-base percentage (.531), slugging percentage (.733) and OPS (1.264) in 45 games.

For the first time — surprisingly — this spring, Lovell is The Times’ Athlete of the Week.

Athlete of the Week, which is sponsored by Bill Smith Buick GMC, will resume in the fall. Nominations are encouraged and can be submitted to jwinfrey@cullmantimes.com with the athlete’s name, school and statistics/accomplishments that make them a worthy candidate for the award.

See below for other notable performances from this past week:

% Sierra Easterwood, Bailey Swann, McKensi Burks, Hannah Morton, Tiffani Schwaiger and Meredith McPherson, Cullman: Combined for seven hits and seven RBIs in losses to Daphne and Helena in the Class 6A state softball tournament.

% Noah Fondren, Jacob Heatherly, Carter Bowen, Trent Price, Wheeler Eastman and Caleb Lipsey, Cullman: Combined for 12 hits and six RBIs in three games against Helena in the Class 6A state championship series.

% Jacob Heatherly, Cullman: Pitched a complete game (two hits and one unearned run) in a 9-1 win over Helena.

% Will Morrison, Cullman: Pitched 6 1/3 innings (four hits, one earned run and six strikeouts) in a 3-2 loss to Helena.

% Andrew Sweeney, St. Bernard: Named to the North-South All-Star Cross Country roster.