Post-Season Playoffs Set For High School Softball: Bob Jones, Sparkman and Madison Academy To Host Area Tournaments

MADISON- The “second season” of high school softball is set to begin in conjunction of the first days of May. The post-season playoffs include our four local schools and are led by third ranked Sparkman and No. 7 Bob Jones. Each were area winners and will host playoff action in round one of the Class 7A action.

Sixth-ranked James Clemens will go into the extra play as the second seed in Area 8 along with Bob Jones. Meanwhile, No. 15 Madison Academy, won the Area 13 regular season title in Class 4A and will host the opening round of the playoffs.

The winner and runners-up of each Area will advance to round two of the playoffs.

“Our four seniors have really been the leadership for us all season as they do the right things and everyone else jumps on board,” said Whitney Deaver head coach of Bob Jones (29-6). “The different this year for us has been our mental toughness along with terrific hitting and pitching.”

At Sparkman, the perennial power under head coach Dale Palmer, who recently won his career game No. 1,000, won Area 7 with a perfect 6-0 area record and will host the first round of the action with an overall record of 30-6. Palmer said this year’s team has worked harder than many of his previous 22 teams at Sparkman. He added, “Their ability to deal with mistakes and overcome those mistakes is much better this season.”

Sparkman has outscored their opponents 315-126. Leadoff hitter Kamryn Warman, a Boston College commit, is batting .500 and leads the team in homeruns (12) and RBIs (50). Palmer said, “She’s a solid piece to our team and puts everybody in the right spot.” Lauryn Gross was out for two weeks due to injury and will return just in time for the playoffs. She has a .538 on base percentage and has 17 stolen bases on the season. T.J. Webster has added 44 stolen bases in the Sparkman speedy lineup.

Pitching has been superb for the Lady Senators in 2019 and has been led by senior Lily Calvert (15-2), a Wallace State commit, as she has seen her share of 92 innings in the circle. Sophomore Lauren Binkley (4-0) has been a huge backup when needed.

Bob Jones (5-1, 29-6) literally received a shot in the arm this season as freshman pitcher Emmah Rolfe arrived in a big way and has posted a 12-3 record with a team leading ERA of 1.15. Senior Emma Jarrett is 8-0 in the circle while sophomore Bailey Tatum is 4-3, but, according to Deaver, “Has pitched in some tough situations for us all season.”

Last year’s All-State performers and seniors Jarrett (.390) and Aubrie Lisenby (.418) along with fellow senior Heather Phillips have risen their games in the offensive department and have set the tone for the entire squad.

James Clemens (4-2, 23-16-1) has had a splendid month of April posting a 4-0 record in the Helena Tournament and additional wins over Sparkman (12-6), Bob Jones (8-2), Hazel Green (12-0) and Buckhorn (2-1). The Lady Jets celebrated Senior Night for the soon-to-be exiting six seniors with a 7-2 victory over visiting Pisgah.

With the late-season surge, the Jets have vaulted to the top six in the latest state rankings.

For the Lady Mustangs of Madison Academy (4-2, 20-8), a coin toss determined which team hosted the Area 13 Tournament as they tied with both Priceville and Danville with identical area records while St. John Paul finished 0-6. The remarkable season so far for the Madison-based school stems from the fact they have just 11 players on the squad and have fought through several injuries to key players throughout the 2019 campaign.

“Situations where we took tough losses, including two games on walk-off homers, and came back from those showed the true character of this team,” said Dean Clark, in his fifth season as head coach. “When you have small numbers like we have, the small things in a game make the difference and these girls have put themselves in the right positions to do it. They have adapted to whatever we needed to win.”

Sophomore Sus Cruit has played in every big game and has carried the bulk of the work in the pitching department. A 2018 All-State player Rachel Baker, one of four seniors on the team, is batting .575 and fellow All-State performer Claire West has been a huge plus at the leadoff spot in the lineup.

“We have four players batting over 500 and several more hitting over 400, so we’re hitting well,” added Clark. “We even have a ninth grade player who has hit double-digit homeruns this season.”

The first round lineups have Sparkman hosting Gadsden City, No. 10 Huntsville and Grissom, Bob Jones playing host to James Clemens, No. 12 Austin and Florence and Madison Academy at home against Priceville, No. 13 Danville and St. John Paul.

“It’s fun. It’s what we work for every year,” said Palmer of the post-season activity. “Our players thrive on the opportunity to play under pressure.”

“Win here and we travel to Florence for the Regionals in the second week of May,” added Deaver. “The top two teams in the regional will advance to the State Tournament at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.”