Photo by Sarah Owens
Mountain Brook's Langston Lilly is shown in a game earlier this season.
The Mountain Brook High School athletics teams are having a strong run of playoff results in recent days. The baseball, softball and girls soccer teams are moving on to the next round of the postseason with wins.
Mountain Brook's girls soccer team notched a thrilling 3-2 win over Homewood on Monday in the second round of the Class 6A playoffs as well. Langston Lilly converted a penalty kick with around 20 minutes remaining to score the deciding goal.
The girls will play Pell City on Friday in the third round. Mountain Brook's boys soccer team hosts Homewood on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
The Spartans baseball team earned a series win over Buckhorn with a win in the decisive third game of the Class 6A second-round playoff series on Monday evening. Mountain Brook and Buckhorn split the first two games of the series on Saturday, before the Spartans ran away with the win Monday.
In the first game of the series, Buckhorn scored three runs in the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie and win 4-1. The result spoiled what was a great start for Caleb Barnett on the mound, as he allowed one run on four hits with 10 strikeouts on six innings pitched.
But Mountain Brook fought back and won the second game 9-4. The Spartans scored five runs in the second and three in the fifth to take an 8-0 lead and cruise from there. Paul Barnett set the table for his team from the leadoff spot, notching three hits and driving in four runs in the contest. Luke Houser knocked in a couple runs and Noah Crosby drove in a run as well. Bryant Diddell threw the complete game on the mound, allowing four unearned runs over his seven innings, punching out eight batters.
That led to an 11-1 win Monday evening. Buckhorn scored first, putting a run on the board in the second inning. But the Spartans immediately responded with three runs, and scored eight combined over the final two frames to pull away. Paul Barnett homered, while Becker Mayor had a couple extra-base hits with three RBIs as well. Caleb Barnett was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Hunter Davis went 2-for-2 with a run batted in. Jack Houser knocked in a run and Luke Houser scored three times.
Jude Davidson threw all six innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits with eight strikeouts.
Mountain Brook will travel to Gardendale this weekend for the Class 6A quarterfinals.
On the softball field, Mountain Brook had no trouble winning the Class 6A, Area 10 tournament, beating Woodlawn 15-0 twice last Friday and Saturday. In the first contest, Reagan Rape had a pair of inside the park home runs and drove in five runs to lead the way. Edith Kaplan also knocked in a pair of runs, while Mackenzie Wedell threw three perfect innings.
In the second game, Liles Walker hit an inside the park homer and had two RBIs. Kaplan finished with three hits and 5 RBIs, and Marianna Murray also drove in a pair.
The Spartans will head to the East Regional Tournament next week at Sand Mountain Park in Albertville. The Spartans will play Wednesday and Thursday, with times and opponents to be determined.
