Athens dominates Muscle Shoals, wins area title

Published 4:17 pm Thursday, May 2, 2019

Skylar Anderson threw a complete-game shutout and Athens banged out 11 hits to defeat Muscle Shoals 10-0 and win the Class 6A, Area 15 tournament championship.

It was the second time Athens defeated Muscle Shoals in the three-team area tournament. The Golden Eagles beat the Trojans 5-1 on Tuesday to advance to Wednesday’s championship game.

Muscle Shoals defeated Columbia in the loser’s bracket final to advance to play Athens for the area championship.

Athens struck quickly with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Gracie Green got the scoring started with an RBI single and later scored herself on a sacrifice fly by Olivia McCurry.

Green then gave the Golden Eagles a comfortable advantage by hitting a three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning. She finished the game with four RBIs on three hits.

Athens ended the game early by scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth. The first two runs scored on errors. Alli Patterson then hit a two-run single to give the Golden Eagles a 10-run lead and bring the game to a close.

Morgan Stiles had three hits for Athens, while Patterson and Anna Carder each had two hits.

Anderson needed just 57 pitches to complete her six innings of work in the circle. She didn’t have any strikeouts. Instead, she allowed her defense to work for her and held the Trojans to just three hits. Athens was strong defensively, committing just one error in the game.

Both Athens and Muscle Shoals advance to the North Regional tournament next week in Florence.