Junior Asher Doepel is the sparkplug for the top-ranked Hartselle baseball team.
"I think everyone knows that," first-year Hartselle coach Brad Phillips said. "There are a lot of guys I trust with the ball, but there are a couple you trust just a little bit more."
Phillips' trust paid off during a long day of baseball at Jacksonville State on Thursday. Doepel threw 125 pitches, earning the save in the first game and the win in the second as Hartselle swept No. 3 Chelsea 4-3, 9-3 to win the Class 6A state championship.
The Hornets won the opener 1-0 in nine innings on Wednesday.
"I wouldn't have expected anything else," Phillips said. "It was a hard-fought series. Yesterday was unbelievably intense. This game is not supposed to be easy at this point. Both teams emptied their tank, and the big inning helped us finish the game and the series. It was unbelievable by both programs out there today."
The title was the 10th in Hartselle's championship history and the first for Phillips.
Despite the lopsided score of the final game, nothing in this series was easy. Hartselle (35-9) forced the "if" game when right-fielder Cain Falciani gunned down pinch-runner Jackson Turner, the potential tying run, at the plate for the final out Thursday morning.
"Huge," Phillips said. "They were trying to test him (Falciani), going for it all. I don't blame them. It was the right call to make. Cain made a great play, and (catcher) Cole Griffin secured the ball and made a great tag. There were a lot of those type plays throughout the day ... on both sides."
In Game 3, Chelsea actually took a 3-2 lead into the top of the seventh, needing three outs to win the school's first state baseball title. However, the inning unraveled quickly.
Three of the first four batters walked and the other was hit by a pitch. By the time the inning was over, the Tigers sent 13 men to the plate and scored 7 runs on 5 walks and 3 hits.
"Going into the series, we knew it was doing to be a dogfight, and we knew the caliber of team Hartselle was," Chelsea coach Michael Stallings aid. "We played a really good ballgame yesterday in Game 1. Game 2 was really good and so was Game 3. We just kind of came apart there in the seventh. We came up short on the mound. I really hate it for our seniors."
MVP: There was little doubt. Doepel finished Game 1 on the mound Wednesday in Oxford, throwing just 8 pitches in a game the Tigers lost on an error. He pitched the final inning in Game 2, allowing 2 hits and striking out 1. In the finale, he went 6.2 innings, scattering 9 hits and allowing 3 runs. He struck out 5 and walked just 1 before he ran out of pitches. At the plate on the day, he was 5-of-7 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored.
"When all of his teammates are looking at him and seeing what he is able to do, it is infectious," Phillips said. "Whether he toes the rubber or he's at the plate, he's our little sparkplug."
Game 2 stats: Hartselle - Easton Nelms was 1-for-3 with 3 RBIs. Connor Stiles started and got the win. He allowed 3 hits and 3 runs in 6 innings. Chelsea - Chase Lackey drove in the Hornets' runs with a 3-run double. Aiden Hughes had 2 hits. Jackson Price started and took the loss. Paxton Stallings pitched the final 3 innings and didn't allow a hit or run, striking out 5.
Game 3 stats: Hartselle - Doepel was 4-for-4 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Keaton Lance was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Ty Marsh got the final out of the game after Doepel ran out of pitches. Chelsea - Stallings started on the mound and went 4.1 innings before he ran out of pitches. He allowed 1 run on 5 hits and struck out 5. He was the first of 6 pitchers the Hornets used in the game. Hughes was 3-for-4 at the plate. Stallings was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored.