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Steele Hall and Drew Ollis powered Hewitt-Trussville to a 12-2 win over Hoover as the Huskies avoided elimination with the Game 2 win in the Class 7A first-round playoff doubleheader at home on Friday. Hoover edged Hewitt 2-1 in Game 1 and the teams will meet on Saturday at Phil English Field at 1 p.m. to decide who advances.
“I am proud of our kids in the way that they bounced back from a tough loss in the opening game of the series,” Hewitt head coach Jeff Mauldin said. “We were one strike away from winning the opening game. I told our kids after that we start the next game scoreless.”
Hall, who was 3-for-5 with 5 RBIs, stroked a 2-run home run in a 6-run second inning in Game 2 for the Huskies. The sophomore shortstop and University of Tennessee commitment, added a two-run double in the third inning.
“He is special,” Mauldin said. “He makes plays defensively that we have never seen anyone else make. He is only improving at the plate.”
Ollis was 2-for-2 with 3 RBIs and drove in the first run in the second inning when he was hit by a Buc pitch.
Pinch-hitter Carter Jackman slapped a full-count pitch to the gap in left field as Hoover scored two runs with two outs in the seventh inning to claim the opening game.
“That was a gutsy call to pitch by coach Moseley,” Mauldin said. “I made a bad pitch call and their guy took advantage of it.”
Jackman’s heroics took place after Will Adams walked and Card Finn singled to open the final inning.
The opening game was a pitcher’s duel with Hoover’s Mason Blasche, who will play at Samford, limiting the Huskies to a single hit while striking out 5.
Hewitt-Trussville had opened the scoring with an unearned run in the third inning. Ollis reached on an error. Pinch-runner William Lamons scored on Hall’s single.
