By By Todd Thompson, Hartselle Enquirer
Hartselle’s run to the Class 5A, Area 15 championship was delayed by Mother Nature Tuesday when the Tigers’ doubleheader with Russellville was postponed due to wet conditions at Russellville’s newly remodeled baseball stadium.
The games between the area rivals was moved to Wednesday afternoon in Russellville.
Hartselle beat Russellville 6-3 and 17-0 Monday with the help of homers from Robby Reece, Garrett Turrentine and Luke Bole.
The Tigers improved to 25-6 overall and 3-0 in area play with the wins over Russellville on Monday. Only the first game of the doubleheader counted in the area standings.
Hartselle, ranked second in the state in Class 5A behind defending state champion Cullman in last week’s Alabama Sports Writers’ Association prep baseball poll, has won 14 of its last 15 games and 19 of its past 22.
Now the Tigers get ready for a tough final stretch on the way to the playoffs. Nine of Hartselle’s remaining 10 games in the regular season will be played on the road.
Hartselle will face Tuscaloosa County and Southside of Gadsden in a doubleheader Saturday at Cullman High School, before playing home-and-home area doubleheaders with Athens April 6-7. The Tigers will play at Athens in the Monday doubleheader before returning home to face the Golden Eagles a day later.
Turrentine took advantage of Reece’s homer to pick up the win against Russellville in the opening game of Monday’s doubleheader. He struck out seven for the Tigers in six innings while allowing just three hits.
Hartselle took the lead with six runs in the fourth inning, capped by a 2-run homer by Reece.
Three pitchers - Josh Doyle, Hayden McCaghren and Andrew Reeves - teammed up to shut down Russellville in the second game. Each pitcher allowed just one hit.
Turrentine had a grand slam for Hartselle in the 17-run outburst. Bole added a 3-run blast.
Ryan Joy singled twice, drove in a pair of runs and scored twice, while Zach Waddell singled twice and drove in a run. Taylor Nelson added a double.
Hartselle 9, Hillcrest 5
Zach Waddell drove in three runs in the first game with three hits, including a home run, to lead Hartselle to a 9-5 victory over Hillcrest on Saturday.
Robby Reece added to Hartselle’s offensive attack with two singles and two RBIs.
Hartselle 10, East Limestone 0
Ryan Joy and Robby Reece both homered twice in the second game of the day as Hartselle dominated East Limestone.
Joy finished with five RBIs in the win.
The Tigers got a pair of singles from Braddock Wilson, who also scored a pair of runs.