AHSAA 5A State Softball Championship: Finished Business

Published 8:55 pm Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Of the three Alabama High School Athletic Association state softball championships that Mortimer Jordan has won since 2008, this one was the least expected, and by far the toughest to win.

After opening their 2011 state finals with a tepid loss on Friday to Chelsea, the Blue Devils stormed back through the loser’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament and won six straight games in a 23-hour time span.

It was a crowning achievement for a Jordan team that did not resemble the dominating, nationally-ranked squads from recent years — but which still had a score to settle from last year’s final-game loss.

And this drive through the bracket had enough twists and turns to make the most rugged MoJo fan queasy — especially in the loser’s bracket finals, when one harrowing moment looked like déjà vu all over again.

That came when Devils shortstop Danae Hays went for a ground ball in the seventh inning of their game against Faith Academy, and collided with third baseman Shelby Maze.

Hays was knocked woozy, taking a blow to her mouth and jaw. She was taken to a local hospital, where she was diagnosed with a mild concussion, but she returned to watch the last game from the dugout.

The incident happened not more than 10 feet from the same spot, in the same loser’s bracket final, and on the same field where last year Hays ran into third baseman Blair Johnson. That collision sent Hays to the very same emergency room, and Jordan did not recover as they fell to Athens in the title game.

Not this time.

Jordan allowed the Mobile-based Rams to score two more runs, one of them on the play where Hays was hurt, but the Devils got the last two outs to secure the 5-3 victory, setting up a matchup with Moody.

Even without Hays, Johnson — who pitched every inning of this tournament except one for the Devils, and was named the most valuable player for her efforts — kept Moody under control in both contests.

In the first final game, Jordan jumped out to an early lead in typical fashion, with lead-off hitter Haylie McCleney getting on base by beating out a grounder to third base, stealing second and being bunted to third by Shelby Maze. McCleney scored when Hillary Hardiman reached on an error, and the floodgates opened.

Johnson, apparently none the worse for wear, pitched her way out of a pair of one-out situations with Moody runners in scoring position, and finally gave up a run in the sixth for an 8-1 win.

The same pattern emerged in the winner-take-all game, as McCleney smacked a lead-off single up the middle, worked her way around the bases and scored when Johnson hit into an error.

But it was designated player Morgan Cantrell — normally the ninth player in the order, but moved up a spot with Hays out of the lineup — whose double in the third inning drove in Erin Lopez and Nikki Chafin for what turned out to be the title-winning runs, as Jordan won 5-1.

Again, Johnson — by then running in fumes — got herself out of a jam in the second with two on and none out for Moody. Johnson induced two pop-up fly balls, then finished the inning with a strikeout.

Jordan would not have made it past lunchtime on Saturday were it not for a miraculous 5-4 comeback win over Chelsea in eight innings. Down 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Devils tied it when Hays scored on an Erin Lopez hit, then Hillary Hardman scored on a passed ball. After allowing a run in the top of the eighth, the Devils won when Maze’s hit brought in Cantrell and McCleney.

And Jordan might not have even made it to that game had it not been for a rally spurred by Cantrell in their game against fourth-ranked Lawrence County on Friday night. Hitting in the nine hole with the scored tied 4-4, Cantrell got on with a one-out hit to left field. McCleney then smacked an opposite-field homer to take the lead, beginning a seven-run rally that led to an 11-4 victory.

The Devils’ only relatively-easy game came against second-ranked Hartselle, in which they prevailed 15-3 in six innings. McCleney hit another opposite-field home run, Hays smashed her third grand slam of the post-season, and Johnson belted a three-run homer as well.

It was the only game where Johnson got a break in the pitching circle. Seventh-grader Bailey Murphy worked the sixth. Johnson threw 48 innings over 36 hours’ time.

“I don’t even know how I did it,” Johnson said after the final game. “I figured, ‘I came this far, why quit now?’ But it’s not my arm [that hurts], it’s my body. I’ve been cramping in my arm, my hip — I don’t even know what else.”

Hays’ crash brought back a memory or two from last year for Johnson. “But I had a different feeling this time,” she said. “God tested us last year, and he really prepared us for what happened this year, and we put it together and fought for here right there.”

The championship is the fourth all-time for the Devils, who won in 1999 as the Class 4A-5A champs. The team was only the fourth in state finals history to win the title after losing their opening game of the tournament.