With senior Haley Hart’s three-run home run in the sixth inning, Spanish Fort not only sealed a home win over MaxPreps’ top-ranked team in the country, the Orange Beach Makos, but it also catapulted into the new national rankings at No. 7.

Although the Makos threatened in the top of the seventh when they loaded the bases in their final at-bats, sophomore Jayla Harris shut the door with a strikeout and locked up the Toros’ 12th-consecutive victory to start the season.

A Louisiana signee, Hart’s third hit of the game proved to be the offensive difference maker as she was joined by senior classmates Ann Thomas Luke, an Itawamba signee, (2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs) and Pressley Parks (2 for 3 with 2 stolen bases) in registering multiple hits for Spanish Fort.

Junior Mallarie Beagle got the start in the pitcher’s circle for the Toros and delivered 5.1 innings of work where she struck out 6 Orange Beach batters opposite 8 hits and 5 earned runs. Harris recorded 2 strikeouts over her 1.2-inning outing opposite 3 hits allowed.

Senior Auburn signee Daigle Wilson led the Makos offensively with a 3-hit effort where junior Mississippi State commit Teagan Revette produced 2 hits and an RBI. Senior Louisiana Christian signee Kaitlynn Robertson and junior Northwest Florida commit Addy Oldham also drove in a run for Orange Beach.

Senior South Carolina signee KG Favors and freshman Miley Kate McMullan split the Makos’ pitching duties with 3 innings apiece. Favors struck out 7 opposite 3 hits and 2 earned runs and McMullan struck out 1 opposite 5 hits and 3 earned runs.

Despite a loss in its season opener, Orange Beach’s new No. 9 ranking left two Baldwin County teams as the only Alabamian squads in MaxPreps’ top 25 rankings. Central-Phenix City (No. 27) and Springville (No. 35) were the state’s other representatives in the next 25.

A streaking Spanish Fort squad

Spanish Fort started its season with a 7-2 win over Brewbaker Tech on Feb. 14 and hasn’t stopped winning since.

The Toros have outscored their opponents 76-25 where they have failed to score five or more runs in only three games. The Makos were also only the third team to score five or more runs against Spanish Fort so far.

Before the Toros’ meeting with Orange Beach, they went 5-0 at the Jubilee Shootout tournament which included a 3-0 win in the championship game over the host Daphne Trojans who finished as Class 7A runners-up last season.

According to MaxPreps stats through the first 12 games, Luke led Spanish Fort in batting average (.559), on-base percentage (.595), slugging percentage (1.118), hits (19), doubles (9) and RBIs (18).

Hart led the Toros in home runs (3) and triples (3) and sat right behind Luke in batting average (.500), on-base percentage (.538), slugging percentage (1.000), hits (17) and RBIs (17). Senior Madison Griffith was the clubhouse leader in runs scored (16) and stolen bases (9) where Hart was right behind her with 15 runs scored.

Defensively, freshman Cayden Dorger has led Spanish Fort out of the gates with a 1.000 fielding percentage with 17 assists and 3 putouts on 20 total chances. Luke was next with a .987 mark (73 putouts, 1 assist on 75 chances), followed by eighth grader Maddie Nelson at .980 (41 putouts, 8 assists on 50 chances), senior Aubree Palmer at .970 (20 putouts and 12 assists on 33 chances) and Hart at .956 (14 putouts and 29 assists on 45 chances).  

Dorger also led the ERA category among Toro pitchers at 0.75 over a team-second-best 18.2 innings pitched to go along with 14 strikeouts against 12 hits and 2 earned runs allowed. Harris (11 strikeouts against 14 hits and 4 earned runs) and Beagle (30 strikeouts against 24 hits and 6 earned runs) both owned a 1.62 ERA over 17.1 and 26 innings pitched, respectively.

Across MaxPreps’ state leaderboards, Dorger’s ERA ranked ninth, Beagle’s 4 pitching wins were 20th and Luke’s slugging percentage and RBIs were both 22nd.

Spanish Fort was off this week and was scheduled to resume action against the South Panola Tigers from Mississippi Monday afternoon. The Toros’ Class 6A Area 2 slate is set to start against the Baldwin County Tigers on March 18 at home.