Jonathan Whitfield didn't have a single hit, run, stolen base, strike out or catch in the record-setting Alabama high school softball game between
Park Crossing (Montgomery) and
Lanier (Montgomery) Monday, yet he might have left Lagoon Park the most exhausted.
Whitfield was the game's official scorer.
In the third-highest scoring game in history according to the NFHS record book, Park Landing escaped with a 46-45 in a nearly five-hour 6A AHSAA Area 3 tournament game. The game set state records for runs (91), walks (65) and hit-by-pitches (29).
Latoria Cleare set a state mark scoring seven runs even though she didn't record an official at-bat. She walked five times and was hit by three pitches.
Four other players tied the previous state record with six runs, including teammate
Janiya Watts and Lanier players
Aryn Williams,
Jai Mister and
Jamil Young.
De’asia Hinds led the way at the plate for the winners with two hits and seven RBI, while Watts and
Amanda Wesley each had three hits and five RBI.
Remarkably, Lanier managed just five hits but turned 42 walks into 45 runs. In defeat.
Park Crossing took leads of 11-4 and 18-5 after the first two frames but watched Lanier roar back to take a 22-20 lead in the top of the fourth, then go up 30-22 in the top of the fifth. The Thunderbirds took back the lead at 32-30 after five, Lanier struck for 11 in the sixth to go up 38-32 but Park Crossing added 10 in the bottom half, to go up 42-38.
A seven-run uprising in the top of the seventh gave the Poets a 45-42 lead, but the Thunderbirds ended it with a four-run rally in the bottom half.
As remarkable as the victory was, Park Crossing was just getting started.
It beat Lee 16-15 in the semifinals, then lost 18-2 to Lee to force a deciding game for the 6A Area 03 title. Park Crossing pulled out another thriller, 15-14, on Thursday.
