ALABASTER – The Thompson Warriors welcomed a crowded field of the state's best to Veterans Park in Alabaster for the Thompson Invitational, and the defending Class 7A state champions started the year off in style with a perfect 5-0 record.
Thompson defeated the Oak Mountain Eagles 4-2, Chilton County Tigers 5-1 and St. Clair County Saints 9-7 on Friday, Feb. 20 before beating the Bibb County Choctaws 7-0 and defending Class 5A champions Moody Blue Devils 10-1 on Saturday, Feb. 21.
The opening game against Oak Mountain saw the Eagles open up a 1-0 lead in the first with a Lindley Speakman RBI double before Morgan Adolphus tied it up off a groundout. Then, in the bottom of the third, Krimson Calhoun and Whitney Holtzapfel used RBI singles to increase the lead to 4-1.
Kennedy Hutchison brought a run home for Oak Mountain in the top of the fourth with a flyout, but the Warriors didn't allow another run from there to win.
Kadyn Bush had the win by allowing two runs off six hits and a walk over four innings.
Thompson also fell behind to Chilton County off a lead-off home run, but Bush singled in the bottom half of the inning to take a 2-1 lead.
The Warriors then put two on with two out in the bottom of the second before Blakely Davis stole home, Kelsey Burden hit an RBI triple and Calhoun got a first-pitch RBI single to cap off the 5-1 lead, which proved to be the final score after five innings.
Burden went 2-for-2 with two runs and an RBI, Jessie Chinoski finished 2-for-2 with a run and Calhoun was 2-for-3 with an RBI. Autumn Ingle got with win with three one-run innings and five strikeouts.
Thompson gave up another first-inning run against St. Clair County but followed it up with a two-run double from Holtzapfel in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead. However, the Saints capitalized on Warriors miscues with a run off an error followed by an RBI double and a passed ball to go up 5-2.
Thompson responded with five hits in the bottom of the second, including a steal of home, a Burnden RBI double and Adolphus RBI single to tie it at 5-5. However, a single and an error set up two more St. Clair County runs in the top of the third, making it a 7-5 game.
Adolphus cut the gap to 7-6 with an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth, and with the bases loaded off a hit batter and two walks in the bottom of the fifth, Burden cleared the bags with a triple to walk off with a 9-7 win.
Calhoun was 4-for-4 with three RBI and two runs, Adolphus went 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run, Holtzapfel finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and Chinoski went 2-for-2 with two runs and a walk. Bailey Holderfield took the win with 2.1 innings of shutout relief ball with three punch-outs.
Thompson had a much more comfortable Saturday with blowouts of Bibb County and Moody.
The Warriors went up 2-0 in the bottom of the first against the Choctaws when back-to-back singles turned into runs off a passed ball and Adolphus sacrifice fly.
After a scoreless second, Thompson started the bottom of the third with four-straight singles, the last of which was an Adolphus two-run single. Holtzapfel followed it up with a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0.
The Warriors had a two-on, two-out situation in the bottom of the fourth and finished off the 7-0 win with back-to-back RBI singles from Calhoun and Adolphus.
Holderfield took the win with a perfect 3.2 innings and nine strikeouts. Calhoun finished 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI, Adolphus was 2-for-2 with four RBI and Burden went 2-for-3 with two runs.
Thompson and Moody battled through two scoreless innings before the Warriors went up 3-0 in the top of the third with RBI singles from Davis, Holtzapfel and Lexi Kelley.
That rally continued in the top of the fourth with two on. Holtzapfel hit an RBI single ahead of a bases-loaded walk. Josie Hamm hit an RBI single on the next play before Aubrey Bauer brought another home with a sacrifice fly. Two batters later, Burden singled to score two runs, and Chinoski added a 10th run when Moody opted for the out at third.
The Blue Devils would only score off a groundout following a lead-off triple in the bottom of the fourth, giving Thompson the 10-1 win.
Calhoun finished 3-for-3 with two runs while Holtzapfel was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run, Davis went 2-for-2 with a walk, two RBI and two runs and Hamm finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run. Bush got the win with three scoreless, no-hit innings to start and three strikeouts.
The 5-0 Warriors will hit the road to Helena to face the defending Class 6A state champion Huskies on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at 4:30 p.m. at Helena High School.
