BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Heading into a pivotal win-or-go-home matchup in the 7A Area 4 tournament against Auburn High School, the Smiths Station High School softball team knew both history and recent results were against them.
This season, the Lady Panthers dropped both regular season games and the Game 1 of the area tournament to the Lady Tigers and had not been to the regional tournament since 2018.
Instead, SSHS (17-16) flipped the script and punched their ticket to Montgomery with a gritty 2-1 road upset over No. 7 AHS (26-11) on May 4 behind seventh grade pitcher Avery Culberson’s arm and Serenity Corley’s two-RBI double in the bottom of the sixth.
Despite entering the area tournament as the four seed, SSHS head coach Michael King said he knew his young team had it in them to compete at this level.
Monday’s victory was the culmination of a hot streak that saw his team make good on a 9-6 win over Opelika High School in the first elimination game two days earlier.
“We told these girls at the beginning of the year that they had to understand that we’ve got to get better every day,” King said. “We just felt like we’re going to be there right at the end. Today, we did a good job of battling, and came up on the right side of things. But our girls always have confidence and understand that if you’re trying to do everything you can throughout the year, days like this will happen.”
If the moment was ever too big for Culberson, she did not show it. In seven full innings on the mound, the Lady Panthers’ youngest player allowed just three hits and one unearned run while walking one batter and striking out nine.
“I felt so happy that I could have been a part of this team and just win and help my team,” Culberson said. “I didn’t know how to feel at first when they said they were going to pull me up to pitch. I was overall excited, and I didn’t do so great that first game [against Opelika High School on May 2]. Then Coach King gave me a second chance to redo that game.”
For most of the game, Culberson and AHS star ace Lily Brewer battled to a stalemate in a defensive grudge match.
However, SSHS finally punched through in the sixth inning when Corley laced a double into right field to plate Peyton Huckelba and Maylin Bailey from third and second, respectively, ultimately providing the game’s decisive offense.
Down 2-0 with their season on the line, the Lady Tigers refused to quit and began what initially appeared to be a magical rally after Peyton Fitzgerald’s RBI single scored Laina Rae Sawyer from second.
In the end, the Lady Panthers’ infield handled the rest by getting the third and final out on a pop fly to seal the deal.
Corley anchored the middle of the Smiths Station lineup, going 1-for-2 with a team-high two RBIs from the cleanup spot. Hayden Suggs and Lynzie Mounce accounted for SSHS’s other hits.
For AHS, Fitzgerald went 1-for-2 and drove in the team’s lone run while Sawyer and Caitlyn Brock were the only other players to collect hits.
Culberson earned the win in the circle for the Lady Panthers by going the distance.
Despite taking the loss, Brewer was at her usual best for the Lady Tigers, working six innings and allowing just the two earned runs on three hits while striking out nine and walking three.
