• Daphne, Saraland advance to state in 6A • Gulf Shores falls in elimination round • Fairhope comes up short to Theodore and Baker in Class 7A

GULF SHORES— Saraland’s Spartans knocked Daphne out of the winners bracket of the Class 6A South Regional Friday night with an 8-4 decision in Gulf Shores. But the Trojans battled back to claim the runner-up spot and advance to the AHSAA Elite Eight state tournament at Lagoon Park this weekend. Daphne got by No. 5 ranked Dothan 4-3 in the second qualification bracket final.

Saraland dealt Dothan the Tigers’ first loss to set up the one-two finale with the Trojans. Daphne and Gulf Shores met in the elimination half of the bracket with the Trojans taking a 7-3 win. The Dolphins stayed in the hunt with a 1-0 win over Northview while Daphne kept going with a 3-2 win against Citronelle before the showdown with Area 2 and county rival Gulf Shores.

The Dolphins started the tournament off with a 5-4, round-one win over Valley while the Trojans opened with an 8-4 win over Benjamin Russell. Makenna Pierce got the win. Aspyn Godwin had a homerun for Daphne.

In Class 7A, Fairhope picked up a 6-4 opening-round win over Theodore, but fell to Baker 4-0 in the nightcap. Diana King got the win for the Pirates. The Bobcats eliminated Murphy 17-2 then got by the Pirates 7-5 in the second round of elimination. The Honeybees and Bobcats advanced as first and second qualifiers.

The AHSAA softball state championship tournament will host 56 teams—eight in each classification competing for seven titles at Montgomery’s Lagoon Park.

 AHSAA State Championship Tournament Schedule: (first round games) Class 7A begins Wednesday with the championship on Thursday while Class 5A, Class 3A and Class 1A start play on Thursday with the title game on Friday. Class 6A, Class 4A and Class 2A begin on Friday with the championship contest on Saturday.

For more visit: AHSAA.com