Saraland pitcher Evan Hilliard shows his emotion after a strikeout during the first game against Spanish Fort in the Class 6A playoffs Friday in Saraland. Hilliard pitched well but took the loss in a complete game as the Toros swept the Spartans 2-1 and 3-1. (Scott Donaldson/Call News)
By JIMMY WIGFIELD
SARALAND — Reliever Cooper Henson resuscitated Saraland just as it appeared the hearse was backing up to the gate Friday night, coolly wriggling out of what could have been a bases-loaded catastrophe in the first inning by surrendering only one run.
But Spanish Fort’s John Henry Winstead sucked the breath out of the Spartans in the final inning, striking out the last two batters to escape a bases-loaded minefield and hold off Saraland 3-1 to sweep the Class 6A second-round playoff series.
In the opener, Newton Gardner’s run-scoring double in the top of the sixth inning gave the No. 7-ranked Toros a 2-1 victory over the No. 5 Spartans.
Spanish Fort (26-10), which has won 12 straight games, won the opener when shortstop Nemo Hixon turned a dramatic double play to end a Spartans threat and the game in the bottom of the seventh.
The Toros continued their playoff mastery over Saraland (26-10), beating the Spartans for the third time in three tries in the playoffs. And, as in last year’s quarterfinals when Spanish Fort twice beat Saraland by a run after losing the opener, the Toros won the close games.
The Spartans were frustrated, outhitting Spanish Fort 9-8 and leaving 14 baserunners stranded in the two games, 10 of those in scoring position.
Winstead got the save in the seventh inning of the opener when he got Jameson Curtis to hit a grounder to Hixon, who touched second base to force out the tying run in Cam Warren, then threw on to first base to complete the double play.
Warren then proceeded to throw eight straight balls to open the second game before Henson came on to steer Saraland away from disaster, letting the Toros squeeze out only one run with the bases loaded.
Winstead, pitching with magnificent composure, returned the favor in the top of the seventh. Trailing 3-1, the Spartans’ Mike Smith bounced a ground ball over third baseman Gardner for a one-out single and Winstead walked Santae McWilliams and Brooks Womble to load the bases.
With Winstead nearing the end of his pitch count, Spanish Fort coach Tommy Walker came to the mound to check on his pitcher, who had only recently recovered from a labrum injury.
“We weren’t going to take him out,” Walker said. “We were going to win or lose with him. John Henry is the classic three-pitch guy but more than that he’s just got heart. He wasn’t coming out. I knew he didn’t want to and I wasn’t going to ask him. I think he had seven or eight pitches left.”
Winstead then struck out Cam Laffitte and Evan Hilliard swinging on 1-2 counts to leave the bags overflowing to end the game.
“I couldn’t be more pleased right now,” said Walker, who has 614 career wins, including three state championships with the Toros. “We played so hard. We knew when the game was on the line that we’d come through. We knew we had a good, quality team. Our guys have been there.”
In the two games, Winstead allowed five hits and a run in eight innings and threw strikes on 78 of 114 pitches. He’s been efficient in the playoffs, allowing only nine hits and two runs while striking out 16 and walking five in 13 innings.
Ethan Kick won the first game, allowing four hits and a run in six innings.
That either Kick or Winstead could pitch so well was remarkable given their health earlier in the season.
“John Henry was coming off a labrum (injury) and Kick was coming off Tommy John (surgery), so we babied them earlier,” Walker said. “We took our time with them. We knew we would need them in the playoffs.”
Their pitching held the top four batters in Saraland’s order — McWilliams, Womble, Laffitte and Hilliard — to a combined 2 of 23 with one RBI in the two games. McWilliams, the two-sport star and leadoff hitter who had 32 steals in the regular season, didn’t steal a base in the postseason.
Despite those numbers, the Spartans kept both of Friday’s games manageable and coach Brett Boutwell — whose team had to sweep Theodore to reach the playoffs and came from behind three times to beat Northridge in the first round — was proud of how his players didn’t quit.
“These kids have played four elimination games the last three weeks and fought through it,” he said. “I just knew we were going to get a hit to tie it in the seventh and then get a hit to win it and force Game 3. That’s how we’ve been playing. I never doubted them one bit. … I’m sad for our seniors, who gave it everything they had for four years. I couldn’t have asked for a better group.”
Henson struck out the last two batters in the first inning of Game 2 to leave the bases full. He came in with two runners on and no outs and walked Winstead to bring in a run.
“We were hoping Cam would give us three or four innings but I didn’t know if we could get down big super early, especially after losing the first one 2-1,” Boutwell said. “We couldn’t give up a big number. Cooper came in with nobody out and pitched outstanding.”
Henson (5-2) got the loss, giving up two runs and three hits in 4.1 innings.
Hilliard (7-3) ended his high school career by pitching well but absorbing the loss in Game 1, giving up two runs and five hits in a complete game.
Spanish Fort 3,
Saraland 1
In Game 2, Winstead helped himself with two RBIs — one coming on a bases-loaded walk in the first and when he got hit with the bases loaded in a two-run fifth to give the Toros a 2-1 lead. Grant Howard’s sacrifice fly in the fifth made it 3-1.
The Spartans tied the game 1-1 in the top of the fifth on Womble’s two-out, opposite-field RBI single but Saraland left nine baserunners stranded.
“They pitched well,” Boutwell said. “We outhit them the second game (5-3) but they didn’t come when we needed them.”
Spanish Fort 2,
Saraland 1
In Game 1, the Toros won despite Lakelon Ray getting ejected for malicious contact on a play at the plate.
In the top of the third and the game tied 1-1, Ray tried to score on Jack Holley’s single to right field but Curtis beat him with a strong throw and Ray appeared to shove catcher Myles Davis when they collided.
“They did the right thing,” Walker said. “It was unfortunate because Lake is one of the toughest kids we’ve got. It was a judgment call.”
The Spartans led 1-0 in the second when courtesy runner Brodie Lloyd scored on a throwing error by second baseman Hayes Miller on John Abston’s infield single.
Saraland had a chance to tie it 2-2 in the sixth but Lloyd was tagged out after a collision at the plate with Holley, who was injured and missed the rest of the series with a concussion, Walker said. Lloyd tried to score from second on Fuller Chisholm’s single to right field but he didn’t beat Howard’s perfect throw.
