Gardendale senior Peyton Godfrey runs down the line on Thursday during a two-game split with Clay-Chalkville. 

The Gardendale baseball team had two opportunities to get one win on Thursday night in the final area series of the season. A 7-1 win in the nightcap gave the Rockets (19-8) the series win over Clay-Chalkville (14-12) and locked up home-field advantage in next week’s playoff opener.

Looking for its second straight Class 6A, Area 12 title, Gardendale opened the series with a 15-13 road win on Tuesday before hosting the two-game split on Thursday.

Head coach Pat Keedy and the Rockets will host Area 9 runner-up McAdory (11-13) in the opening round of the state playoffs beginning next Friday.

Game 1: Clay-Chalkville 4, Gardendale 2

Errors haunted Gardendale in the first part of a Thursday doubleheader, as the Rockets let an early 2-0 lead sip through their fingers in a game that could’ve locked up the program’s second straight Area 12 championship.

Clay-Chalkville sophomore Aronde Bell strung together three hits, including the go-ahead RBI in the fifth inning to lock his Cougars in the playoffs. A loss would’ve bounced the visitors from postseason play and rewarded Pinson Valley the Area 12 runner-up slot on the 6A bracket.

Instead, Junior pitcher Michael Kilgore tossed a completed game for Clay-Chalkville, allowing two runs on three hits. He also went 2 for 2 at the plate with a pair of walks in the playoff-clinching win.

It was Gardendale that grabbed a 2-0 lead with one run apiece in the second and third innings. Senior Peyton Godfrey worked his way around the bases and scored the first run on a passed ball. Fellow senior Michael Crowder guided a run-scoring single into left field in the following frame, but that was it for the Rockets offensively as the Cougars scored four unanswered to claim the win.

Gardendale committed six errors to Clay-Chalkville’s one.

Game 2: Gardendale 7, Clay Chalkville 1

With an area championship on the line, Rocket senior Peyton Godfrey had a night.

The righty hurled a complete game while notching a 3 for 3 effort at the plate as Gardendale pieced together a big 7-1 win. After going 1 for 3 in Thursday’s opener, Godfrey bounced back for consecutive RBI doubles in the series finale. He would later single in the fifth and finish with a sacrifice fly in the home-half of the sixth.

He was no less impressive on the mound, striking out 10 Cougars to go with a single walk and five hits in seven innings of action. His only run allowed crossed in the first inning when Connor Miles bounced an RBI single into right field.

That was it for the Clay-Chalkville offense, which finished 1 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

Godfrey evened the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the first thanks to a high-hopper over the third baseman. He came right back in the second inning to score Michael Crowder from first with a two-out double. Gardendale led 2-1 after two complete and never looked back from there.

Left fielder Colt Belcher did his part in a two-run fourth. The junior poked a sacrifice fly into center field before Hayes Haygood chopped a run-scoring groundout to shortstop for a 4-1 advantage. The only scoreless inning for the Rockets came in the second.

Keegan Hudson got down the line for a run-scoring bunt single in the fifth and sophomore Bailey Parsons tucked an RBI triple into the right-field corner in the sixth, shortly before Godfrey’s sac fly.

Gardendale will travel to Briarwood on Saturday to cap off the regular season.  

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