Alabama Christian traveled north to Hoover and had a very successful weekend with four straight wins in what hopefully will provide some momentum for the Lady Eagles as they close the regular season.
ACA opened the Hoover Invitational with a convincing 16-1 defeat of Sipsey Valley. Haley Oswald started the scoring in the second inning with an infield single that scored Rose Costanza followed by a Lawson Borland ground out that scored KG Taylor for an early 2-0 lead. The Lady Eagles added three more runs in the third aided by run scoring hits from Katie Chappell and Taylor. As Alabama Christian continued to score runs, starting pitcher Izzy Warrick silenced the Bears’ bats and kept the ball on the ground with ten of the game’s fifteen outs being ground balls in the complete game victory. Warrick, Costanza and Taylor each contributed run scoring hits in the fourth to stretch the lead to 8-0. In the final inning, Alabama Christian doubled their score with eight more runs as Costanza and Taylor both had two-run singles in the frame. Seventh grader Campbell Hammett collected her first career hit in the inning. Six Eagles produced multi-hit games as Rose Costanza, KG Taylor and Izzy Warrick each had three hits and Hayley Cassidy, Haley Ingram and Ava Oates each had two hits in the contest. Ingram extended her hitting streak to 26 games as she adds to her record with each game she gets a hit.
Game two of the evening pitted the Lady Eagles against the host school in a good test for the ACA team. Alabama Christian passed with flying colors with a 5-3 win over the Lady Bucs. The Eagle’s ace, Rose Costanza, was in the circle and held the Hoover offense in check. Hoover scored once in the first inning and did not score again until the seventh. ACA tied the game in the second on a Hoover error and took the lead in the third on a Hayley Cassidy sac fly. Costanza followed with a two-run double to extend the lead to 4-1. The two-base hit was Costanza’s 200th of her career as she became the seventh Lady Eagle in program history to achieve the mark. The Eagle’s last run was scored in the fourth as Haley Ingram singled in Lawson Borland for the 5-1 advantage. Hoover scored two in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough in the 5-3 ACA triumph. Costanza did not walk a batter in the complete game effort to pick up the win. Ingram led the offense with two hits and extended her streak to 27 games.
Saturday opened with a 14-4 victory over Beech (TN) as the Lady Eagles won their third consecutive game. ACA jumped all over the Buccaneers with seven runs in the opening frame highlighted by two-run hits by Annabelle Pugh and Izzy Warrick. Haley Oswald knocked in the team’s eighth run in the second for an 8-0 lead. Beech scored the next three runs in the third and fourth innings to trim the lead to five runs. In the fifth inning, Alabama Christian extended the lead to 14-3 aided by Haley Ingram who launched a three-run homer to center field. Izzy Warrick earned the win in the circle with five innings of work and Maddie Traywick pitched the sixth inning to close the game. Haley Ingram collected a hit in her 28th straight game with a 3 for 4 effort with a homer and three RBIs while Hayley Cassidy finished 3 for 5 with one run driven in. Lawson Borland, Rose Costanza and Izzy Warrick each contributed two hits to the attack.
The fourth and final game of the weekend was a thriller as ACA defeated Oxford 8-7 to finish 4-0 on the weekend. Izzy Warrick picked up the win in relief as the Eagles scored three runs in the last inning. Alabama Christian fell behind early as the Jackets led 6-0 after two innings. In the third, ACA cut the lead in half with three two-out runs scored. After the first two hitters were retired, the offense produced four consecutive singles with Katie Chappell and Hayley Cassidy knocking in the three runs. The Eagles cut the lead to one as they scored two in the fourth on a Haley Oswald single and a Haley Ingram sac fly. After giving up a run in the bottom of the fourth, ACA trailed 7-5 heading into their final at bat. The first four Eagles walked in the frame to cut the lead to one run and Skylar Crews tied it with an infield single. Lawson Borland drove in the game winner with a sac fly to center field. Oxford put a couple of runners on in their half of the inning, but were unable to score a run and the Eagles held on for the 8-7 win. Warrick led the offense with two hits in three at bats with a run scored and Ingram’s single moved her hitting streak to 29 games.
Alabama Christian goes to Catholic on Tuesday for their next contest.