West Point's Makayla Brown shares a joyous hug with a teammate on Tuesday.

GOOD HOPE — The road to championship glory once again runs through West Point.

The Lady Warriors downed Good Hope 5-3 during Tuesday’s Cullman County Softball Tournament to collect their fourth consecutive crown in the annual double-elimination showdown.

West Point, which also took down Holly Pond 14-3 during Day 1 action and bested the Lady Raiders 8-6 to advance to the championship, moved to 21-11-1 this season following what coach Eric Pendley called “an outstanding team effort” in the title contest.

“Our goal at the first of the year was to win county,” he said. “We haven’t been playing that great since we came back from the beach after spring break. This tournament, though, we found that chemistry. We hit the ball, we made some defensive plays, and we pitched it well. I’m super proud of how the girls came in here and won this thing again.”

The Maroon and White opened up a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning following an RBI single by Molly Pendley, which plated Courtney Blackwood. Blackwood led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lillie Burdette and then took third on a wild pitch.

Avery McClure (double), Jordyn Kimbrell (single) and Blackwood (walk) all reached to start the second frame before Olivia Ball and Pendley both came through with back-to-back RBI singles to extend their squad’s lead to 3-0.

Ball paced West Point with three hits and two RBIs — Pendley nabbed two hits and two RBIs as well — but the sophomore slugger couldn’t help but talk about what the victory meant for the program’s three seniors — Burdette, Kimbrell and Blackwood.

“I’m just so happy we won it for those girls,” she said. “They’ve really helped get us to where we are now. Knowing that we’re the team that other teams want to beat makes winning this tournament really fun. Every year it just keeps getting better and better.”

The Lady Raiders trimmed the deficit to 3-1 after an Abby Neighbors’ groundout brought home Alex Stansell, who had opened the bottom half of second inning with a powerful double to center field. Ball, however, pushed the lead back to 4-1 with an RBI triple — which immediately followed Burdette’s five-pitch leadoff walk.

Good Hope wasn’t done, though, making a tremendous push in the fifth inning following back-to-back walks by Erika Woodall and Skylar Tucker. 

After a fielder’s choice and a wild pitch, Derekia Tankersley came through with a double of her own to score Tucker and Josie McDonald, cutting West Point’s advantage down to a single run.

“We knew coming into the tournament that the competition was going to be extremely tough,” Pendley said. “Everybody in the county has really, really improved and gotten better. One through nine, though, someone contributed for us when it mattered the most.”

That’s exactly what happened in the sixth inning.

Ball led off with a sharp single and moved to second in short order following a wild pitch by McDonald. Makayla Brown made the Red and White pay just two pitches later with a double to left field that easily plated Ball and handed the Maroon and White a 5-3 cushion.

Carlie Wilkins took care of the rest from there, surrendering only one hit over the final two frames to comfortably put away Good Hope and send the Lady Warriors into another memorable celebration — as if they don’t have enough practice.

“It’s expected now,” said Burdette, who’s won six county crowns between her junior varsity and varsity career. “It’s amazing. All the hard work we have put in leads to this. I love every single one of these girls. We aren’t done yet, though. This is just the beginning. We know that bigger things, much bigger things, are coming for us.”

Still, nothing seemed much grander or more important for West Point than when Ball received a grounder at second base and tagged the runner for the final out of the championship contest.

“When I did that, I was just like, ‘Oh, my God. We just won county,” recalled Ball with a laugh. “I didn’t want to have to make the throw and mess up and all that.”

Added Burdette: “When we got the second out, I was already celebrating, but I didn’t want to show it. I know Good Hope is a really good team and anything could happen. But once it was over, I was really happy.”

Blackwood (two hits), Brown (one hit and one RBI), McClure (one hit), Kimbrell (one hit), Hope Shedd (one hit) and Burdette (one hit) all produced at the plate for the Lady Warriors.

Wilkins and Josey Gammon both pitched admirably in the circle as well.

“I’m excited about the way we’re playing now,” Pendley said. “It’s the right time to be playing well.”

McDonald (two hits), Tankersley (one hit and two RBIs), Stansell (one hit), Tucker (one hit), Haley Norris (one hit) notched the hits for Good Hope.

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% West Point 8, Good Hope 6: Olivia Ball (three hits and four RBIs), Lillie Burdette (three hits), Molly Pendley (two hits and two RBIs), Courtney Blackwood (two hits and one RBI), Carlie Wilkins (two hits) and Jordyn Kimbrell (two hits) all contributed during the Maroon and White’s early win against the Lady Raiders on Tuesday.

Makayla Brown and Avery McClure also had one hit apiece for West Point, which plated three runs in the fifth inning to take the lead for good.

Alex Stansell (three hits and one RBI), Derekia Tankersley (two hits and one RBI), Mykale Lowe (two hits) and Skylar Tucker (two hits) all earned glowing reports at the plate for the Red and White. Abby Neighbors (one hit and one RBI) and Josie McDonald (one hit) also provided hits for the Good Hope in the loss.

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% Cold Springs 11, Holly Pond 9 (nine innings): The Lady Eagles eliminated the Green and White in an offensive shootout earlier on Tuesday.

Kylon Hamby (four hits and one RBI), Crimson Gann (three hits and one RBI), Hayden Goodwin (two hits and two RBIs), Drew Sanders (two hits and one RBI) and Anna Kate Voce (two hits) offered up the firepower for the Blue and Gold.

Riley Hooper, Katie Burnham and Maddie Folds all had three hits for Holly Pond, while Taylor Tankersley smashed a home run and ended the tilt with four RBIs. Ciera James (two hits and one RBI) turned in a solid performance as well.

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% Good Hope 15, Cold Springs 0 (four innings): The Red and White soared into the championship after putting up sublime offensive numbers against the Lady Eagles in the losers’ bracket finale.

Alex Stansell and Erika Woodall each collected a trio of hits, while Skylar Tucker, Josie McDonald and Derekia Tankersley grabbed two apiece in the runaway victory.

Hayden Goodwin had the lone hit of the outing for Cold Springs.