Baldwin County athletes help score wins at AHSAA All-Star Week

Gulf Shores’ Galvan stakes claim to county’s second straight boys’ soccer MVP honor

BY COLE McNANNA
Sports Editor
cole@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 7/21/23

Gulf Shores’ Talan Galvan scored two first-half goals in the boys’ soccer game to earn South MVP honors and highlight Baldwin County’s impact at the Alabama High School Athletic …

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Baldwin County athletes help score wins at AHSAA All-Star Week

Gulf Shores’ Galvan stakes claim to county’s second straight boys’ soccer MVP honor

Posted

Gulf Shores’ Talan Galvan scored two first-half goals in the boys’ soccer game to earn South MVP honors and highlight Baldwin County’s impact at the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s All-Star Week.

Across the eight sports, 35 athletes and three coaches represented Baldwin County and their half of the state in Montgomery against some of the top rising seniors from the northern half of Alabama. Local athletes contributed to victories on the softball diamond as well as the volleyball and tennis courts.

The boys’ soccer MVP recognition for Galvan marked the second straight for the county after Spanish Fort’s Colin Spuler earned the award last year.

Galvan’s Dolphin classmate, Tia Titi, came up clutch in Game 2 of the softball doubleheader and not only provided the game-tying RBI but also scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning for the South All-Stars.

In a similarly tight contest, the volleyball squad that featured four local players and was coached by Spanish Fort’s Gretchen Boykin bounced back from a loss in the first set and allowed only 20 points in the final two sets to earn a 3-1 victory.

Also from Spanish Fort, the Jacob Thom/Jake Miller pairing recorded one of two wins for the South All-Stars in the doubles competition on the tennis court with a 6-0, 6-2 decision over the Alex Smith/Sam Barclift pairing from Albertville.

Girls’ Golf: North won 48.5-41.5

The North-South All-Star week kicked off with the golf competition where four local athletes competed on the links.

Fairhope’s Callie Henderson and Daphne’s Samiya Bodalia battled Lindsay Lane’s Chloe Ruble to a 12.5-5.5 defeat in the top pairing. Ruble was the match’s highest-point scorer, and the 7-point victory was the difference in the North’s win after the other four pairings split their match play.

Addison Spears from Fairhope teamed up with Avery Seitz from St. Paul’s and earned a 9.5-8.5 win over Ellie Cothran from Cherokee County and Abi Cerwick from Helena. Bayside Academy’s Causey Thompson and Fairhope’s Teal Gardner were edged by Bob Jones’ Lauren Sheehy and Sparkman’s Clara Tran in another 9.5-8.5 decision.

Baseball: North won Game 1, 11-4; Game 2 tied 5-5

The South All-Stars, coached by Gulf Shores’ Chris Jacks, came back from a loss in Game 1 of the doubleheader at Riverwalk Stadium and got timely hits from local players in the nightcap.

After Fairhope’s Nolan Phillips walked and scored a run and Gulf Shores’ Mac Anderson strikeout four batters in two innings pitched in Game 1, Spanish Fort’s Jack Holley helped set the tone in Game 2.

In the third inning, the Georgia State commit delivered the fifth in a string of hits – which included a single from Gulf Shores’ Connor Gehr — that brought around three runs to help build a 4-3 lead. Down the stretch, Holley was brought on to pitch in the bottom of the seventh in a tie game and delivered a pair of strikeouts to preserve the tie that moved the all-time series to 26-16-4 in favor of the North All-Stars.

Girls’ Cross Country: North won 70-84

The Eastern Shore was well represented on the cross country course where Spanish Fort’s Alexiana Hinote and Daphne’s Sophie West both recorded top-15 finishes. Hinote crossed the finish line in 20:36.31 for 10th place and West registered a time of 21:04.43 for 12th place.

Boys’ Cross Country: North won 77-113

Another Toro in Winston McGhee represented Spanish Fort and Baldwin County in the all-star race and logged a time of 16:31.98 to earn seventh place overall. The North All-Stars improved to a 4-2 lead in both all-time series.

Girls’ Basketball: North won 80-44

After she coached the Foley Lions to their first-ever state semifinal, Emily Flanigan coached the girls’ South All-Star squad and had one of her own, as well as a Daphne Trojan, on the squad. Ashauntee Hobbs compiled 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal to complement 3 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist from Daphne’s La’Merrica Johnson.

Both Hobbs and Johnson were named to the Class 7A Girls’ Central Region All-Tournament Team this winter and in the past few weeks, Johnson had picked up her first college offers. Coastal Alabama South was the first to offer the forward/guard before Antelope Valley, Birmingham Southern, Bishop State and Mobile extended offers.

Boys’ Tennis: North won 6-3

Fresh off runner-up finishes at the Class 6A state championships, Jake Miller and Jacob Thom teamed up as a doubles pairing and earned one of two doubles wins for the South All-Stars. The No. 2 pairing won the first game in straight sets then dropped only two in the second game to emerge victoriously 6-0, 6-2.

Softball: Game 1 tied 3-3, South won Game 2, 6-5

Jesslyn Gordon from Fairhope, a recent Spring Hill commit, and Ella-Grace Nobles from Spanish Fort joined Tia Titi in representing Baldwin County in the softball doubleheader. Nobles drew a walk in Game 1 and Gordon grounded out in her lone Game 2 at-bat.

The South All-Stars’ victory cut into the North’s lead in the all-time series to make it 29-24-4 overall.

Girls’ Soccer: North won 3-2

All four of Baldwin County’s All-Stars saw action on the pitch where Spanish Fort’s Emma Kate Wilson and Fairhope’s Aidyn Hagan played all 80 minutes. Allie Fussell from Foley recorded 45 minutes and Emily Smith from Robertsdale logged 17 minutes. The North potted two goals late in the second half to push its all-time lead in the series to 18-3-1.

Boys’ Soccer: North won 6-3

Talan Galvan, recently named a first-team all-state forward, got the South All-Stars out of the gates with two first-half goals although both were equalized for a 2-2 halftime score. Galvan found the back of the net in the 26th minute and again in the 32nd minute but the latter one was responded to within two minutes.

Also representing Baldwin County on the pitch included Fairhope’s Camden Carner and Daphne’s Noah Clark, who both played all 80 minutes, Robertsdale’s Hayden Harville (53 minutes), Bayside Academy’s Thomas Cunningham (40 minutes), Spanish Fort’s Ayden Kim (32 minutes) and St. Michael Catholic’s Matthew Drago. Lucean Pingrey from Orange Beach also tended 40 minutes in goal and recorded three saves against 12 shots faced.

Volleyball: South won 3-1 (13-25, 25-23, 25-8, 25-12)

A back-and-forth volleyball match closed the AHSAA All-Star Week competition after the South All-Stars bounced back from a first-set loss.

Spanish Fort’s Reese Varden was the local leader with 5 kills and 1 assists and was followed closely by Orange Beach’s Amelia Edgeworth who finished with 4 kills and 3 digs. Bayside Academy’s Blakeley Robbins, a recent Montevallo commit, racked up 17 assists to go along with 2 digs and 1 kill and fellow Admiral Maysie Douglas contributed 3 digs to the winning effort.