NORTH CENTRAL SOFTBALL REGIONAL: Fultondale drops pair, falls out of playoffs

Fultondale found out Friday that steamrolling over weak opponents in an area playoff is one thing, and getting through a regional is quite another.

The Wildcats won’t repeat  last year’s state tournament appearance, after being knocked out of the North Central Regional Tournament at Liberty Park with two losses Friday.

Fultondale lost a 12-4 decision in its first-round game against Woodland, then were shut out 12-0 by Sulligent in the loser’s bracket.

In the first game, the Wildcats found themselves deep in a hole early, largely a result of their own defensive mistakes. The Bobcats’ four runs in the inning were all unearned, thanks to five Fultondale errors.

The Wildcats came back in the first for three runs of their own, thanks to an RBI double by pitcher Kelsey Hubbard, then a single by catcher Monica Rascoe, who was later thrown out at home trying to tie the game on a hit by Megan Westbrook.

But Woodland got all three runs back in the second, thanks in part to a Haley Rolen triple, and the rout was on. The Bobcats added three runs in the fourth, another in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

“We didn’t play the bunt right, and we botched a rundown attempt,” Fultondale coach David Reed said. “We put ourselves in a hole early, and we don’t have the ace hitters this year to get us out of that.”

Hubbard had a pair of run-scoring doubles.

In the second game, Sulligent put eight runs on the board in the first inning, and that was pretty much that.

“They hit the ball real well,” Reed said of the Blue Devils. “We hit balls well in both games, but they were ‘atom balls’ — we hit it right at ‘em.”

Megan Westbrook, the Wildcats’ only senior, had two hits in her final high school game. Kelsey Hubbard and her sister, Katrina, also had a pair of hits each.

Fultondale finishes the year with a 9-11 record.