Belgreen falls in area, advances to substate
The Belgreen Bulldogs, 27-17, finished runner–up in the Class 1A Area 14 tournament this past week.
The Bulldogs opened the tournament with wins over Vina 8-3 and Hackleburg 4-2 but closed the tournament with two straight loses to the Panthers, 12-7 and 12-8.
Belgreen will advance to the Class 1A North Region tournament in Florence. The Bulldogs will play Skyline at 9 a.m. May 12.
The tournament is double elimination. Belgreen would face the winner/loser of the Marion County/Cherokee game later in the day.
“Hackleburg is a very good team,” said Belgreen Coach Susy Tverberg. “We struggled getting timely hits, and when we did get a hard hit, they would make an outstanding play.
“I’m excited we advanced to the regional tournament, and I’m anxious to see how our girls play.”
In the Vina game, Lily Blackburn had three hits, including two doubles and three RBIs. Madison Vandiver had two hits and an RBI. Hannah Borden had an RBI-single.
Noelle Willingham, Morgan Vandiver, Makayla Willingham, Borden and Dacota Green all crossed the plate for the Bulldogs.
Blackburn pitched four innings and allowed five hits, two earned runs and no walks, and she struck out one. Borden came in in relief for three innings and allowed no hits, no runs and one walk, and she struck out four.
In the first matchup against Hackleburg, all four of the Bulldog runs came in the bottom of the first inning. Madison Vandiver singled, scoring Morgan Vandiver, to open the scoring for Belgreen. Makayla Willingham roped a three-run home run scoring Brooke Tompkins and Borden.
Hackleburg scored their only two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Morgan Vandiver went three-for-four and scored a run. Borden went three-for-three and scored a run. Madison Vandiver went two-for-three with an RBI.
Blackburn pitched a complete game and allowed eight hits and two runs, walked one and struck out four.
In the final two losses to the Panthers, Hackleburg piled up 26 hits, and Belgreen committed nine errors.
In the finals, Madison Vandiver went three-for-four with two RBIs. Borden had two doubles, an RBI and scored a run. Blackburn doubled, had an RBI and scored a run.
In the double elimination final, Belgreen got doubles from Makayla Willingham, Noelle Willingham, Blackburn and Bryn Scott. Scott had three hits and scored three runs.
