By By Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Hartselle’s Lady Tigers stirred up a storm in area softball competition on Tuesday by shutting out both opponents they faced and ensuring themselves of no worse than a second place seeding in regional competition in Huntsville next weekend.
Two games were scheduled on Wednesday with Athens to meet Muscle Shoals and Hartselle to play the winner. Hartselle needed only one win to emerge as area champion and lock up a first place seeding in the regionals.
The Lady Tigers blanked Athens 1-0 in an afternoon game behind the two-hit pitching of Meaghan Gray and a solo home run by Sara Lang.
Gray pitched a perfect game through four innings, allowed just two singles, struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.
In addition to Lang’s homer, Chandler Orr slugged a pair of singles and Michel Fields and Alex Paulsen each singled.
In the nitecap, Hartselle erased the sting of an early season home loss to Muscle Shoals by crushing the Lady Trojans 7-0 on their own playing field.
The Lady Tigers pounded out eight hits, including a two-run homer by Orr, while Breanna Riley limited the Lady Trojans to a single hit in seven innings. She stuck out eight didn’t allow a walk and hit a batter.
In addition to Orr’s homer, Lang rapped a pair of singles, Fields doubled and Ashley Bonner, Anna Hall, Kimmie Minor and Paulsen each singled for the Lady Tigers.
The two wins boosted Hartselle’s season record to 39-15.