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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

Three teams from the Chilton County area advanced to the AHSAA State Baseball Playoffs and took the field for their first round series on April 19-20. Maplesville High School, winner of AHSAA Class 1A Area 6, was the only one of the three schools to host their first round series as Billingsley and Thorsby high schools hit the road.

 

Maplesville High School

Maplesville hosted Millry High School, runners-up in AHSAA Class 1A Area 1, in its first round series that began on April 19. After three runs by Millry in the top of the first inning, Braden Atcheson got the Red Devils on the board with an RBI single in the bottom half. Millry added a run, and an error by the visitors plated the second Maplesville run in the third inning. Later in the inning, singles from James Jones and Cade Smith allowed Bradlee Padgett to follow with a two-RBI double to tie the game at four. Smith and Padgett were both 2-for-4 with both of Padgett’s hits going for doubles. Millry posted four runs in the fifth inning to put the game out of reach to take game one 9-4.

After a brief intermission, the teams took the field for game two with Maplesville needing a win to keep their season alive. After a Millry run in the first inning, Jake Carlee roped a two-RBI triple to put the Red Devils on top 2-1.

Millry tied the game in the top of the third inning, but Maplesville retook the lead 3-2 in the bottom half as Aiden Abbott scored on a dropped third strike. Truett Smith added a run for the Red Devils in the sixth inning getting hit by a pitch to make it 4-2, and Atcheson knocked a two-run double in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 6-2, helping Maplesville hold on for the win to force game three the next day.

In game three, Millry jumped ahead again in the first inning with three runs, and added a run in the third and fifth innings to build a 5-0 lead. Maplesville outhit Millry 9-4 in the game, but it was timely hits for the visitors that yielded runs.

Jakobe Nix was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, and Abbott and Padgett each had two base hits. Pearce Yergan’s groundout RBI in the seventh inning pushed across the only run for the Red Devils.

 

Billingsley High School

After a magical run to the AHSAA Class 1A state semifinals last season, the Bears were looking to duplicate that magic in 2024, but would have to do so starting on the road at Leroy High School. Game one started with Billingsley drawing three walks in the first inning, the last by Mason Truesdale plating the first run of the game. Brady Caver and a Leroy error scored two more runs in the inning to put the Bears up 3-0 after their first trip to the plate, and they held that lead until Leroy tied the game with three runs in the third inning.

In the top of the fourth inning, singles from Hudson Manning, Eli Manning and Truesdale loaded the bases with two outs, and Caver was hit by a pitch to retake the lead for Billingsley. The lead was short lived as Leroy got the run back in the bottom half of the inning, and the game went to extra innings with no score after that.

In extras, Billingsley posted two quick outs before an Eli Manning walk, a Landon Jones intentional walk and a Truesdale walk loaded the bases again with two outs. Caver came to the plate again, and this time made contact with the bat, serving a two-RBI single to give the Bears a 6-4 lead. Leroy loaded the bases themselves in the bottom half, but could only get one run across as Billingsley took game one 6-5.

Leroy came out in game two playing with urgency and pushed across four runs in the third inning to take the lead. Billingsley found themselves in a bases loaded, two outs situation again in the fifth inning with Nathan Gilmore up to bat. Gilmore lined a three-RBI single to cut into the lead significantly at 4-3. However, Leroy added a run in the seventh inning to force game three on April 20.

Billingsley started game three on fire with three runs in the first inning on a Jones RBI double, followed by a sacrifice fly from Caver and an RBI single from Turner Motley. Leroy scored the game’s next seven runs to take a 7-3 lead entering the third inning.

In the top of the third inning, Hunter Wyatt knocked a three-RBI double to right field to cut the lead to 7-6. Wyatt was 2-for-3.

Gilmore followed with a single, and Hudson Manning tied the game with an RBI groundout. Billingsley forced a Leroy error later in the inning that pushed across another run to give the Bears an 8-7 lead. Gilmore, Jones and Motley all had two base hits and two RBIs each.

Leroy regathered itself and scored the games next 10 runs to blow the game open, and Gilmore’s RBI single in the seventh inning was the last run for Billingsley falling 17-9.

 

Thorsby High School

Thorsby made the over three-hour journey to Bayshore Christian School for its first round series of the AHSAA Class 2A State Baseball Playoffs on April 19. Thorsby found tough sledding against Bayshore pitching in game one with just two hits — singles from Max Burnett and Manuel Castillo. Starting pitcher Aiden Seeley did not throw a bad game going six innings surrendering eight hits and four runs (three earned) with six strikeouts, but did not have the offensive support.

In game two, the Rebels fell into a 4-0 hole after the three innings, but Seeley doubled in the fourth inning followed by singles from J.T. Green and Collier Price to load the bases. Patrick Prady was hit by a pitch to score the first Thorsby run. Price was 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Bayshore got the run back in the fifth inning, but Thorsby cut into the lead again with an RBI double by Seeley, followed by an RBI single from Green to make it 5-3. Seeley was 3-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI, and Green was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

Bayshore added three runs in the sixth inning to stretch the lead to 9-3, but Thorsby kept fighting to load the bases after three consecutive singles from Braylon Carroll, Burnett and Seeley. Green reached on an error by the Bayshore third baseman which pushed across two runs to make it 9-5. Price followed with a two-run double to make it 9-7 with a runner on second base and no outs in the inning. However, three straight outs following the double ended the comeback bid and Thorsby’s season in the first round.