Don’t call it comeback, the Golden Eagles have been here for years — five years, to be exact.

Athens downed Buckhorn 4-3 at Thursday’s Class 6A North Regional in Florence to advance to its fifth consecutive state tournament, which starts next week in Oxford.

The fifth-ranked Golden Eagles (32-18) begin their title defense next Thursday with a 9 a.m. clash against Pell City, the East Regional champion.

“Our team basically has every grade level on it, so you had a difference in maturity levels — and it took us all season to battle through that and get to know each other,” Athens coach Chuck Smith said. “A lot of girls were back from last year’s team, but every year and every team is different — and they’ve all got to figure each other out. It just took us a little longer to get going.

“In the last three weeks, though, they’ve all grown up so much. The adversity we’ve faced the last two days — pretty much every inning is up and down — we just battled through that and came out on the other side. I think they’re ready for anything that will get thrown at them next week.”

Athens got off to an inauspicious start on Thursday, falling to No. 8 Hartselle 2-0 in the regional title game.

But Smith’s squad answered the bell with a wire-to-wire victory over the Bucks.

Paisley Howell smacked a two-run single in the first inning and later produced an RBI groundout that plated Lily Lowery, who stole second and third base after being hit by a pitch to lead off the third frame.

Despite that good start, Buckhorn didn’t go away quietly, scoring three runs in the fifth inning to cut its deficit to a single run.

Abby Lopez, though, stranded a pair of runners to close out the frame and secured a state-clinching strikeout in the seventh inning to leave the potential tying run on third base. Lopez came on in relief of Jaicey Harty, who pitched well for the Golden Eagles against both Buckhorn and Hartselle to help her team advance.

“We knew that Jaicey would pitch us a heck of a game,” Lowery said. “We trusted she’d get it done and she trusted we’d get it done. We’re very scrappy, so trusting each other and doing the little things make us very competitive.”

In Class 1A, Athens Bible picked up a 6-1 win over Brilliant before losing to Hackleburg 13-0 to end its season at 18-21.

See capsules below.

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Class 6A (North Regional)

Hartselle 2, Athens 0

Caitlyn Tedford: 2-for-3

Jaicey Harty: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R (ER), 8 K

 

Athens 4, Buckhorn 3

Paisley Howell: 1-for-2, 3 RBIs

Lily Lowery: RBI

Jaicey Harty: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R (2 ER), 5 K

Abby Lopez: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 K

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Class 1A (North Regional)

Athens Bible 5, Brilliant 1

Brooke Blakely: 2 RBIs | 7 IP, 3 H, ER, 5 K

Hadley Robison: 1-for-4, RBI

 

Hackleburg 13, Athens Bible 0