Eagle baseball out of playoffs
KATHY PICKENS
The Standard
The Fort Dale Academy varsity baseball team ended their season last week with a winning record of 20-16.
In regular season play, the Eagles hosted Sparta Academy in a double header for their last games at home.
They won both in just six innings with scores of 12-2 and 10-0. Making significant contributions at the plate in the two games were sophomore Owen McNeal with a single, two doubles, a triple, a homerun, and five5 RBI’s.
Senior Noah Pickens had a single, three doubles, and four RBI’s.
Senior Sam Bloodworth had a single, a double, two triples, and two RBI’s.
In the first game junior Everett Black pitched two innings, struck out four, walked two, and allowed one hit.
Junior Brady Long pitched four innings, struck out six, walked two, and allowed two hits.
Pitching in the second game was handled by Bloodworth and sophomore Parker McNeal.
Bloodworth pitched four innings and had seven strikeouts, a walk and gave up a hit.
McNeal pitched two innings and had six strikeouts with no walks and no hits.
In post-season play, Fort Dale traveled to Tuscaloosa Academy to play a round one best 2 of 3 series to advance.
They split games with the Knights on Friday, losing the first game 12-1 and winning the second 8-5. The Eagles fell to Tuscaloosa on Saturday 2-12 to end their season.
In game one, the Knights had 10 hits while the only Eagles who managed to tally up singles were Pickens, Clay Benson, and Stephen Waggoner.
The second game saw more Eagle offense with three singles by Bloodworth, two by Benson, and one each by Waggoner, Long, and O. McNeal.
Bloodworth got the win, pitching 6.2 innings before he ran out of allotted pitches.
In game three, Bloodworth was the only Eagle to wake up his bat with a single and a double while Tuscaloosa had good success at the plate.
Head coach Marshall Watts closed the season with words of thanks to his players and their families for a good year.
He believes that the team can take steps forward and deeper in seasons to come on the foundation laid by his senior players, adding that they will definitely be missed.
