Devils have relatively smooth ride to second 5A title
By Robert Carter
The North Jefferson News
For the most part, it wasn’t even close.
Except for one game, Mortimer Jordan’s journey to their second straight AHSAA Class 5A state softball championship was more of a victory parade than a long series of close-fought battles.
The Blue Devils, ranked 17th in the USA Today/NFCA national Top 25 poll, clinched their title Saturday afternoon with an 11-4 win over Cullman in the final game at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.
Over the course of 10 games in the post-season, Jordan outscored their opponents 111 runs to 12, with all the opposing runs coming at the state tournament. Only when they reached Montgomery did a game go past five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.
The only real struggle that the Devils faced at the state finals was in the opening game, when they found themselves in the unfamiliar position of trailing a game Moody team. Jordan eventually prevailed 2-1, and ran the table for the rest of the tournament with few problems.
After a couple of days of celebration and rest, Devils coach Laura Rickman said Monday that the Moody game may have been the best thing to happen to her team.
“It was definitely a wake-up call,” Rickman said. “Seriously, we had not faced a team that gave us everything they could since we played Corner [in the final game of the Cullman Pre-State Blowout].
“That was one of my biggest fears, that we would not face much opposition and we’d be complacent when we got to Montgomery. Springville and Cullman dodged us [in the regional tournament] by not putting their top pitchers against us,” Rickman added.
After that first-round scare, Jordan proceeded to thrash Hartselle 16-5 in the second round, followed by a 8-2 win over Cullman in the winner’s bracket finals.
The Bearcats fought their way back to the championship game by edging Moody 1-0 in the loser’s bracket.
In the final game, freshman center fielder and lead-off hitter Haylie McCleney was 5-for-5 with three doubles, and scored every time she came to the plate. Third baseman Alyssa Linn had three hits with two doubles, and pitcher Blair Johnson added a double. All in all, 10 of the Devils 13 hits came from the top three in the order, who are all southpaws.
With Jordan up 10-0 and headed for an early ending under the 10-run rule, Cullman’s Erin Lopez put her team back into the game with a three-run homer in the fifth inning. But by that time, the Devils were way too far in front to be caught.
The only area where the champs weren’t their usual selves was in defense. They committed more than a dozen errors over four games, including three that allowed Moody’s lone run to score. But Jordan’s batting lived up to its reputation, and made up for the fielding miscues.
Heather Parker, who alternated with Johnson between first base and the pitching circle all year, was named the tournament’s most valuable player. Besides winning two games as a pitcher, she also hit three home runs — two in consecutive at-bats in the Hartselle game. She finished the year with 16 homers, which leads a team filled with proficient sluggers.
Ironically, Parker saw Jordan’s prowess from the other dugout last year. She was the losing pitcher when the Devils knocked out Pleasant Grove in the sub-state under the old playoff system. Parker transferred to Jordan during the off-season.
“Never — I never even imagined having a year like I’ve had this year,” Parker said in an interview on Monday’s edition of NJNtv on YouTube.
“It’s just a pleasure to be around that kid,” Rickman said on NJNtv. “Not only does she bring a lot on the field, she’s got good assets off the field.”
Parker, Linn, McCleney and catcher Morgan Estell were all named to the all-tournament team.
The final game also broke the state record of consecutive victories for a team, with the Devils winning their last 43 games. The streak will carry over to the 2010 season. Jordan finished the year with a 50-2 record, two losses fewer than the 2008 championship squad.
This year’s defeats came at the hands of Class 6A powers Bob Jones and Tuscaloosa County; both losses were avenged later in the year. Tuscaloosa County went on to win the 6A title on Friday.
Much of Jordan’s lineup won’t have long to savor their state title. The top six batters in the order — “Murderer’s Row” to fans, a nod to the 1927 New York Yankees first six that included Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig — all play together on the Birmingham Vipers travel-ball team. The team gets a week off before heading into the summer schedule.