Sparkman strikes back; defeats James Clemens

Aubri James came on and pitched 4 innings of scoreless relief but it wasn’t enough as Sparkman won a key area game (Record photo/Lindsay Vaught)

MADISON- Just a week apart but there was a complete turnaround in Sparkman’s play as the #2 ranked Senators dismantled and dominated James Clemens in a rematch, winning 7-2 Wednesday night.

Sparkman has now won 8 games in a row since losing to James Clemens 3-1 last week.

So did that loss provide extra motivation? Sparkman coach Dale Palmer was less dramatic.

“We want to continue to have quality at-bats, solid pitching, and make routine plays defensively. We were very undisciplined at the plate in the loss to James Clemens last week. We had 19 hits against Hazel Green last night. Today we got big games out of our one through four hitters. If they continue to have quality at-bats then the kids around them will produce runs because they will be on base. They have to have consistent games getting multiple hits,” Palmer said.

Sparkman plated seven runs in the first three innings and cruised the rest of the game. Starting pitcher Paige Bannerman went all seven innings, gave up six hits and avenged her loss to the Jets last week.

James Clemens started Emily Jacklin who had pitched seven innings the night before against Bob Jones. It didn’t work out well as Jacklin gave up seven runs on ten hits. She was pulled after three innings. Aubri James came on and shut out Sparkman for the rest on the game.

The top of Sparkman’s order did all the damage. Taylor Davis led off the game with a single and scored on a hit by Kailey Stoker. In the second inning, with Davis and Mackenzie Nutt on base, Savannah Hayes blasted a long home run over the left field fence. Nutt added a double in the third to score Davis who went 3 for 3 and scored 3 runs. Malori Cameron went 3 for 3 also.

Nutt is hitting .460 this season and leads Sparkman in doubles, triples and has 31 RBI.

Sparkman shortstop Mackenzie Nutt

Palmer said the key to defeating James Clemens is keeping leadoff hitter Shelby Booker off base. Booker went 1 for 4 and got trapped in a rundown in the first inning.

Bannerman “pitched well but missed quite a few spots but got away with it. She settled down late and started locating better,” Palmer said.

Sparkman players said they didn’t want to lose twice to James Clemens.

“It was a big game for us because it was an area game and we want to host and they beat us last time so we wanted to get back out there and fight back. We wanted to come out and jump on them before they had a chance to score,” said Kailey Stoker.

Both teams are now 4-1 in Class 7A, Area 8 with one game to go. Sparkman hosts Bob Jones next week and James Clemens goes to Hazel Green.