BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
OPELIKA — Whether it’s on the gridiron, hardwood, soccer pitch or diamond, games between bitter crosstown rivals Auburn High School and Opelika High School always seem to carry an extra edge no matter the records.
Last week’s softball series was no exception, with the No. 5 Lady Tigers (15-4, 2-0) taking a 3-2 defensive slugfest and a thrilling 9-7 nine-inning shootout over the Lady Bulldogs (15-14, 0-2) on April 2 to open 7A Area 4 play.
As the Lady Tigers play their final season on natural grass, AHS head coach Matt Hendricks said his team wanted to host their first area tournament since 2021 and play the last possible game on their hallowed turf.
To do so, they needed to hit the ground running in their first area series. While there are plenty of games left to play, they accomplished their first mission.
“You can’t win the area without winning the first two [games],” Hendricks said. “The first weekend of the year, we came back to win all four games, so I knew then that we had some grit and toughness. I’m just proud of [my players], they worked so freaking hard. And that’s a different Opelika group the last couple of years. They’re going to give people fits. I want to give them a lot of credit, Jessica’s a really good coach.”
While there were a plethora of heroic performances on both sides, perhaps none stood taller than Alivia Harris.
Across both games, the junior first baseman and pitcher went 5 of 7 at the plate — recording two home runs, six RBIs and three runs — and struck out nine batters in six innings on the mound.
Harris’s highlight moment came in the second game’s third inning, when her three-run home run brought a sense of relief to her aching joints and an AHS dugout desperate for some offense.
“I was just like, ‘Thank You Lord,’ because my ankles hurt and I needed to go home,” Harris said. “We definitely have grit that a lot of people don’t expect us to have. We’re a very young and small team, but we’ve been together for so long. Like half of our team grew up and played Little League together and built friendships. And we want this for Coach Hendricks, because he does anything for us, even on the days he doesn’t want to.”
After remaining competitive for virtually the entirety of both games, the two losses were a heart-wrenching conclusion for a much-improved OHS squad under head coach Jessica Thornton.
Although the defeats are sure to leave a bitter taste in the Lady Bulldogs’ mouths, there were plenty of positives to leave West Ridge Park with.
Among them in the second game were eighth-grade center fielder JZ Agee, who went 4 for 5 at the plate for three RBIs and two runs, freshman shortstop McCall Clayton, who tallied one RBI and three runs, and sophomore pitcher Morgan Foley’ six strikeouts.
“This team has a lot more chemistry this year. They like to play for each other and they make quick adjustments,” Thornton said. “Part of our postgame talk was about the fight they showed and that they never gave up. I think that we learned from the mistakes that we made and we’ll move on from that. We’re building confidence, even through failure.”
Game 1
Originally started in Auburn on March 31, the first game proved to be a pitching and fielding master class from both squads.
In the bottom of the first, Harris laced a ground ball single to right field, plating Caitlyn Brock, who had tripled in the previous at-bat, to give the Lady Tigers an early 1-0 lead.
After being stonewalled by Harris for four innings, OHS answered in the top of the fifth when Braelynn Brooks laid down a sacrifice bunt to give Jaylee Williams an easy trip home from third and tie the game 1-1.
KG Soltau then gave the Lady Bulldogs a 2-1 lead an inning later with a hard ground ball single to the shortstop that scored Jas Smith from third base.
However, the game never reached a natural conclusion after game officials halted play with the result still undecided due to lightning in the area. Hendricks and Thornton agreed to resume hostilities 46 hours later when OHS hosted AHS in Opelika.
When the game picked up where it left off, Harris added her second RBI after lifting a sacrifice fly to right field and making good on Reese Kelley’s triple during the previous at-bat.
With the score knotted at 2-2, Brock — who scored the game’s first run two days earlier — delivered the walk-off hit with a hard ground ball past third base to score Landry Gaillard and send the Lady Tigers streaming onto the field.
Game 2
Almost immediately following the first game, the two teams took to the field to settle the score again.
In the bottom of the first, Soltau quickly got things going for the Lady Bulldogs by roping a ground ball single to second base to score JZ Agee and give the home side the early advantage.
Down 1-0, AHS wasted little time responding after Kelley lined a single to right field to plate Eva Mason from third. Harris then stepped to the plate and launched a three-run homer just over the center field fence to meet Brock and Kelley at home and give the Lady Tigers a 4-1 lead.
OHS struck back in the bottom of the frame, with Agee smoking a hard ground ball that turned into an AHS error and allowed Williams to score from second.
However, in the top of the fifth, Harris demolished another solo shot that was eerily similar in flight and destination to her first, effectively erasing Williams’s run and extending the Lady Tigers’ lead to 5-2.
The Lady Bulldogs answered immediately for the second time in the game with Agee, who singled in the bottom of the fifth on a fly ball into right field that brought Clayton home from second.
With AHS now up only 5-3 entering the top of the sixth, Brock extended the visitors’ lead with a line drive double to left that scored Mason from second. Then came the bottom of the seventh.
Agee opened the rally with a hard ground ball single just left of second base to plate Williams from third before Soltau followed with a sacrifice fly to right that brought Clayton home from third. Emily Birmingham delivered the exclamation point with a pop fly to score Agee from third and tie the game at 6-6, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Having seen their lead evaporate, the Lady Tigers broke the game open in the top of the ninth despite being down to their last out.
Lily Brewer — who struck out 10 batters on the mound — daringly punched a ground ball single into center to score Harris from second. Peyton Fitzgerald followed with a hard ground ball single of her own to deliver Gaillard, who had entered for Brewer, home from third. Jada Esters kept the line moving, singling through the middle to plate Laina Rae Sawyer from second and stun OHS.
Although her team was down 9-6, Clayton had the last word for OHS. Leading off the bottom of the ninth, she turned the first pitch she saw into a thunderous line drive to center and over the fence for a home run.
From there, excellent fielding and a third-out strikeout by Brewer capped off the heavyweight fight.
