By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

Jemison softball coach Leighsa Robinson may have found the perfect team-building exercise—even if it’s not the one she had in mind at first.

The JHS softball team planned a trip to watch the sixth-ranked University of Alabama softball team host Kentucky, but then Wednesday’s storms ravaged Tuscaloosa, forcing the cancellation of the game and also the Jemison team’s trip.

Instead, the Panthers decided to help tornado victims.

“It was going to be a team thing, and when they canceled it, I thought…,” Coach Leighsa Robinson said. “I want them to understand life isn’t always about them. It’s about helping people in need. If I can teach them that, then I’m doing my job.”

The team, along with some JHS volleyball players, will collect supplies needed by victims from 11-11:30 a.m. Sunday at the school softball field and then take the supplies to Tuscaloosa.

Robinson encouraged those who want to help to bring bottled water, diapers, baby wipes, baby food, baby formula, flashlights, batteries, trash bags, toiletries, napkins, plates, plastic utensils, cat food, dog food, cat litter, food that does not need to be heated such as crackers, charcoal, grills, new packs of undergarments (for men, women and children), flip flops, new packs of socks, candles and lighters.

“I wish that we had so much stuff that we have problems taking it over,” Robinson said. “Somehow, some way, we’ll get it over there.”

The Panthers have connections with the Tuscaloosa area.

UA volleyball coach Judy Green (who has volunteered for several years to help with a summer camp at JHS) is without power and water, Robinson said, and Tuscaloosa-Central volleyball coach Hanika Turner has been unable to contact all her players.

“She just said for everybody to keep them in their thoughts and prayers,” Robinson said.

By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

Tuesday’s softball game between Jemison and Thorsby was delayed about 30 minutes as the pitcher’s rubber came loose and a new one had to be found and installed.

The pitchers—Jemison’s Tiffany Guin and Thorsby’s Taylor McManus—seemed to like the altered mound just fine.

In a 4-2 Jemison win, Guin and McManus combined to strike out 15 batters and stifle the opposing offenses until visiting JHS struck for three runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Emily Patterson doubled with one out in the frame, and then Morgan Lucas took a walk and Lauren Crosby reached base on an error that also allowed Patterson to score.

Shelby Griffin then came through with a clutch hit to make the score 4-1.

Jemison had scored its first run of the game off McManus just one inning earlier, when Hannah Smith looped a fly ball in between Thorsby’s third baseman and left fielder to score Griffin.

Until then, it looked like McManus might make a single run hold up.

Thorsby struck first, in the bottom of the second inning.

Josie Adams singled to lead off the frame and scored later on a groundout by Savannah Bice.

The Rebels were quiet the rest of the game until their last at-bat.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Bice, Destiny Davis and McManus loaded the bases with one out.

Guin recorded her 11th strikeout of the game before Halie McKinnon kept Thorsby’s hopes alive with a run-scoring hit, but Guin’s 12th punchout ended the game.

From Staff Reports

Autumn Smith drove in Courtney Killingsworth in the 10th inning to give Maplesville’s softball team a 5-4 win over Jemison on Tuesday.

The score was 2-2 after the first inning and remained close throughout.

Morgan Little scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on a single by Kiana Andrews to tie the game at 4.

Wendy Spigener scored for Jemison (1-3) on a single by Shelby Lopez in the top of the 10th.

Kimmie Jackson scored the game tying run on a double by Killingsworth in the bottom of the 10th, and then came Smith’s game winning hit.

Killingsworth was the winning pitcher for the Red Devils (6-2), going all 10 innings and striking out 11.

Little, Courtney Baugh, Killingsworth and Andrews each had three hits for Maplesville.

Shelby Griffin, Lopez and Tiffany Guin each had two hits for Jemison.

Jemison’s softball team picked up its first win of the season Monday, 5-2 home at home over Thorsby.

Some younger Panthers contributed to the victory, as eighth grader Lauren Crosby went 3-for-4 at the plate, and ninth grader Morgan Lucas went 2-for-3.

Shelby Griffin, Emily Patterson and Shelby Lopez drove in one run each, and Tiffany Guin knocked home two runs with a double in the second inning.

The Panthers had nine hits in all.

THS loaded the bases in the top of the seventh inning but could not push a run across.

Guin struck out seven Thorsby batters in seven innings pitched to earn the win.

Taylor McManus suffered the loss for Thorsby even though she struck out eight Panthers in six innings of work.

By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

Jemison’s bats on Tuesday couldn’t keep pace with visiting Montevallo as the Panthers fell, 16-5, in four innings.

The hosts also made some errors in the field that ended up costing them.

Montevallo scored two runs in the top of the first inning, but Jemison responded with four runs of their own, as the first five batters in the JHS lineup reached base safely, including a two-run single by Tiffany Guin.

The visitors came right back with six runs in the top of the second and never trailed again.

The big blow was a bases-clearing triple by Savannah Smith off Guin, who started on the mound and suffered the loss for Jemison.

Jemison got one run back in the bottom of the second, but Montevallo put the game away in the third, recording eight consecutive hits with one out.

The middle of the Jemison batting order was effective as Shelby Lopez, the No. 3 hitter, went 2-for-2 with a walk and a run scored; and Guin, the No. 4 hitter, went 2-for-2 with a walk and two RBI.

By Stephen Dawkins

To fans that show up at Jemison softball games this season: Don’t be confused; those are the varsity players.

One might wonder because the Panthers will be remarkably young.

There are no seniors this season and three juniors—and the rest of the team is made up of sophomores and freshmen, many of which were starring for the junior varsity team in 2010.

“We lost a lot of great leadership last year, and I’ve seen some step up and really try to lead this team, and our young ones are going to have to buy into our system,” coach Leighsa Robinson said. “They’re going to have to buy into what we’re doing, why we do things the way we do.”

The veterans of the team will be juniors Tiffany Guin and Shelby Lopez.

Guin was the Most Valuable Player of last year’s Chilton County Tournament, hosted by and won by JHS, and is one of the county’s best pitchers.

Lopez will have a starting role for the fourth year. She will share time between shortstop, her position last year, and catcher, her position two years ago.

Out of 10 starters last season including a designated hitter, Guin and Lopez are the only two back.

But there are reasons for optimism.

Robinson said this group could be her fastest team since she took the job.

Emily Patterson, a transfer, has excelled in practice and can play any of a number of positions, even pitcher.

Of the other youngsters, Denten Ellison, Shelby Griffin, Katie Hayes, Morgan Lucas, Emily Patterson and Hannah Smith have stood out and proved they’re capable of holding onto starting roles.

“I think we’ll have our moments where we struggle, but I think we’ll also surprise some people,” Robinson said.

By Stephen Dawkins

VERBENA – Jemison spoiled Verbena’s Senior Day with an 8-3 win on Tuesday.

The hosts have two more regular season games left and then an area tournament, but Tuesday was the last home game for catcher Tori Applegate, center fielder Brandy Driver and first baseman Haley Thornton.

Verbena kept it close most of the game, trailing by one run, 2-1, after four innings.

But Jemison scored one run in the fifth on a groundout by Samantha Glass and a second run on a two-out hit by Tiffany Guin to take a 4-1 lead.

Guin was the winning pitcher for Jemison, holding Verbena to five hits and four walks in seven innings while striking out 10 batters.

The Panthers struck for four more runs in the top of the sixth inning to put it away.

Shelby Lopez plated Tanya Liveoak and Dallis Vanderslice on a triple, and that hit was followed by run-scoring doubles by Amber Simmons and Samantha Glass.

Down 8-1, Verbena rallied in their last turn at-bat. Guin walked Thornton, Krista Rodriguez and Mattie Cleckler before recording an out, and Haley Kelley brought home two runs on a double.

But Guin was able to work out of the jam without allowing any more damage.

Chanin Hancock suffered the loss for Verbena.

By Stephen Dawkins

Jemison was an underdog in the Chilton County Softball Tournament, but coach Leighsa Robinson knew her team was close to turning its season around.
The Panthers had a 1-12 record, hadn’t won a county championship since 2005, and had to deal with a team—Maplesville—that made the state tournament last year and is ranked No. 9 in Class 1A this year and the defending county champion—rival Chilton County.
Surprising everyone except perhaps Robinson, tournament host Jemison won four straight games—including two one-run decisions against CCHS on March 27—to claim the county championship.
“I knew we had it in us,” Robinson said after the final out had been made in a 2-1 win. “We’ve been playing good the past couple of weeks—one inning always snags us.”
With the Panthers down 1-0, Shelby Lopez doubled with one out in the fifth inning. After a sacrifice for the second out, Tabatha Cork drove Lopez home on a hit that glanced just off the glove of leaping Chilton first baseman Lauren Stewart.
Tiffany Guin doubled to plate Cork and give Jemison a 2-1 lead it wouldn’t surrender, but the possibility of that one inning that would doom Jemison always loomed.
CCHS got the game tying run to third base with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning and had runners on first and second with no outs in the sixth. That’s when Lindsey Parrish hit a hard line drive right at Jemison shortstop Lopez, who caught the ball and was able to get out the runner leaning too far off second base and basically end the threat.
The seventh inning, meanwhile, was uneventful—until the celebration began.
“My group of seniors was hungry for this,” Robinson said about a class that includes Brandi Baker, Cork, Samantha Glass, Codi Mims, Amber Simmons and Dallis Vanderslice. “This tournament just proves the leadership I have on this team.”
Chilton scored its run in the bottom of the second inning when Macee Thomas singled with two outs to score Brooke Lewis, but Guin, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, held the Tigers in check the rest of game, allowing only five hits.
In fact, Guin pitched all 28 innings the Panthers were on the field in the tournament and allowed only seven runs. She was on the mound when Jemison topped CCHS, 3-2, earlier in the day. Because of that result, CCHS would have had to beat Jemison twice to win the tournament.
“We wanted to win really bad,” said Guin, a sophomore. “I just tried to get as many three-up, three-downs as possible. I knew I had a great defense behind me.”
Guin also pitched in wins over Maplesville (8-3) and Isabella (4-1) on March 26.
In Game 1, Mims and Cork hit home runs in the first and second innings versus Maplesville.
In Game 3 of the tournament, Isabella’s pitching held the Jemison Panthers in check for most of the game, but the Panthers were quick around the bases from the first inning. Lopez and Tanya Liveoak both scored on balls that got away from the Isabella catcher, and Vanderslice sent home two runs on a single.
Guin struck out eight Isabella batters.
Thorsby, meanwhile, went 1-2 in tournament play.
The Rebels defeated Verbena, 3-1, on Friday but lost to CCHS, 16-1, later in the day.
In the sixth inning of Game 2 of the tournament, Ashlin Hilyer, Kelly Nord and Lindsay Pease each had RBI for Thorsby, and Pease struck out 10 batters.
Sharonda Cooper scored Thorsby’s only run against CCHS.
The Rebels were knocked out the tournament by a 10-5 loss to Maplesville on Saturday.

Scott Mims contributed to this report.

Chilton County scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on Friday to blow open a close softball game against Jemison and take a 13-9 win.
Both teams plated one run in the first inning, and Jemison took its first lead of the game, 3-1, in the second on a two-run single by Amber Simmons.
CCHS came right back in its half of the inning and, on run-scoring hits by Macee Thomas and Mary Katherine Graham, took a lead it would never surrender—though Jemison would keep it close.
The host Tigers made it 6-3 in the third, Jemison cut it to 6-4 in the fourth, and then CCHS built its biggest lead of the evening when April Lewis and Brianna Cleckler recorded back-to-back run-scoring hits with two outs to make it 8-4.
But Jemison scored two runs in the fifth and another run in the sixth to make it a one-run game.
That’s when CCHS exploded and put the game out of reach. The Tigers recorded four hits in the frame—the biggest could have been Cleckler’s smack to center field—and took advantage of two walks and an error by the Jemison defense.
Simmons and Tabatha Cork had RBI hits for the Panthers in the top of the seventh to conclude the scoring.
Kadie Coker started on the mound for CCHS and earned the win. Cleckler came on in relief to begin the sixth.

By Stephen Dawkins

This week marks the return of one of my personal favorite sports events: the Chilton County softball tournament.
And, believe it or not, this year’s tournament might be even better than in the past.
While the county baseball tournament the past couple of years has been shortened from a weeklong, double elimination event to a single-elimination, two-day tournament, the softball tournament this season is taking the opposite approach.
In the past, the softball tournament has been played over two days using a standard bracket. This year, the tournament will be stretched over three days, with the first day being pool play and the next two days a single elimination tournament.
Pool play, which will determine seeding for the bracket portion, will be played at two different fields at Thorsby’s Sam Bentley Park. The next two days’ games will be played at Jemison High School, the tournament host.
The new format will guarantee each team three games instead of two. It will also guarantee fans more softball to watch.
The tournament should be competitive once again, with every county team entering the tournament with a legitimate chance to win.
I think that increasing the number of games played will only increase the chances upsets because teams in some cases will be forced to throw their second—or even their third—pitcher instead of relying on one pitcher to make it through the tournament.
Maplesville will likely come into the weekend as a top 10 team, and Thorsby is only a couple of years removed from being ranked themselves. Still, Chilton County, the county’s largest school, has won two out of the last three tournaments.
The fun starts Thursday, and I encourage everyone to attend. You won’t be disappointed.

– Dawkins is the assistant managing editor for The North Chilton Advertiser.