Hewitt-Trussville’s Christian Helmers and Hudson Mitchell earned complete-game victories on the mound and Koal Duckett was eclectic on offense as the top-ranked Huskies swept a playoff doubleheader over Sparkman in Friday’s Class 7A first-round series.
The Huskies won 4-0 and 5-1 in a series that was delayed early due to heavy rains but finished before midnight.
“Both of our pitchers pounded the strike zone,” Hewitt-Trussville coach Jeff Mauldin said. “They changed speeds, pitched both sides of the plate, up and down. We knew they, offensively, did not strike out a bunch. They’re going to put a lot of balls in play, and we had to be ready. Our pitchers did their job locating pitches, but our defense was outstanding.”
Hewitt-Trussville (33-2) jumped ahead 2-0 early in the nightcap, but allowed the Senators to score their only run of the series on an RBI single by Braxton Williams in the bottom half of the frame. Duckett brought Tennessee signee Steele Hall home on a single and scored on an error.
Mitchell allowed only a single baserunner in the final six innings of the nightcap.
Hall, Duckett and Cameron Simpsons produced consecutive singles in the fifth — Duckett scoring Hall for a second time — and Cooper Huffman brought Simpson around on a double for a 4-1 advantage over the Senators.
Colby Durden and Cale McIntosh led off the sixth with back-to-back singles, and the latter scored the former for a 5-1 lead following consecutive errors in the infield.
In Game 1, McIntosh got the Huskies on the board first with an RBI groundout in the second, and Duckett and Huffman increased the lead to 3-0 at the end of the third frame. Duckett scored on an error and Huffman brought Simpson in on a single.
Durden capped the scoring in the opener, 4-0, on a fielder’s choice in the sixth inning,
Star of the Series: Pitching. Helmers and Mitchell each went the distance for the Huskies and allowed only 2 hits each, the latter giving up the only run on a single in the first inning of the nightcap.
Helmers issued 4 strikeouts and 2 walks in his two-hit shutout, while Mitchell totaled 8 strikeouts against a single walk.
“Coach Mauldin gave us a really good game plan, told us how to pitch every single guy in the lineup, and Hudson and I really executed. The defense was really good and Steele made a lot of plays behind us. The defense was solid throughout and we just went out and threw strikes,” Helmers said.
Stat sheet: Hewitt-Trussville – The Huskies gave up only 4 hits in the doubleheader and turned a pair of double-plays in the opener. Duckett was 2-of-4 with a pair of RBI singles in the nightcap and scored twice on errors. Huffman and McIntosh both went 2-for-6 with 2 RBIs in the series, followed by Durden, who was 1-of-1 and reached base on a hit-by-pitch, a fielder’s choice and two errors. Sparkman – Brenner VanDeWynckel took the loss in Game 1 and gave up 6 walks, with 4 coming by way of a hit batter. RJ Freiholtz started the nightcap and gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, and Tripp Morris closed each game in relief. Will Peccia was 2-for-2 with a pair of singles in the opener, and Williams was 2-of-3 in the nightcap and scored the only run on a single in the first inning.
Coachspeak: “The two guys we threw dominated the strike zone and our defense dominated the game. We stay humble and we stay hungry. Stay humble with what’s going on, but stay hungry for your next opponent. I don’t think it’s going to be hard. We’ve been in this situation all year, ranked top in the state or top 10 in the country, but none of that matters in the playoffs. Whoever we play is a top 10 or top 5 team. Only eight teams left playing and we’re grateful for that.” — Hewitt-Trussville’s Jeff Mauldin
What’s next: Hewitt-Trussville advances to the quarterfinal round of the Class 7A playoffs and will face either No. 2 Bob Jones or No. 6 Thompson, who are tied 1-1 in their first-round series.