Ardmore might not be heading to the Class 5A playoffs, but the Tigers showed just how good a team they can be by sweeping two area games from area champion East Limestone.

The Tigers defeated the Indians 6-1 on Tuesday before winning 7-4 Thursday. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the two victories were enough to catapult them to the playoffs, as they finished with a 3-3 area record, losing the second spot to Madison Academy, which swept two games from the Tigers earlier this season.

“When we play well, we’ve been pretty good this year at times,” Ardmore coach Andrew Smith said. “We had a couple of rough weeks to start area play that really hurt us, but this week we started playing well again, so that was good to see.”

Ardmore got off to a great start by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning. Dylan Hall, Bryson Rolin and Landon Martin all had RBI singles, while Blake Martin also had an RBI in the inning.

“We had a bad inning right there at the beginning,” East Limestone coach Bradley Craig said. “But sometimes it’s your day and sometimes it’s not your day. That’s the game of baseball.”

Ardmore also added single runs in the second and third innings, and led 7-1 after the top of the third. The Tigers were able to hold off East, as pitcher Hogan Whitt pitched out of trouble most of the game, as the Indians could only score single runs in the second, third, sixth and seventh innings.

“Hogan pitched really well today,” Smith said. “He had pitched well in relief against Madison County in our first area game, and pitched well in game three last week against Madison Academy, so he started today and pitched well again. He’s done a good job in area play.”

Even though East Limestone lost both area games against Ardmore, the Indians still finished first in the area, and will host a first-round playoff series next Friday and Saturday.

Craig said the Ardmore series could serve as a wake-up call for his players.

“Our guys have got to realize we’ve got to be on our best every day,” Craig said. “Anybody can beat anybody else in the game of baseball, so you’ve got to be on your best every single day.”

Whitt, Tucker Reed and Clay Randolph each hit doubles for Ardmore, while Hall had two hits. Zach Pyles, Drew Harting and Brady Kassay each hit doubles for East Limestone, with Pyle having three hits total.

East Limestone did defeat Ardmore 8-7 in the third game of the series, which doesn’t count in the area standings. Ardmore once again jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, and led 6-0 after four innings. But East Limestone scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth to take the lead and held on to win.

The big blow in the inning was a grand slam by Drew Harting. Cameron Johnson also doubled for the Indians, while Kassay had two RBIs.

Ardmore was led by Reed, who had thre hits, including a double. Luke Hogan also had two hits for the Tigers.