
Kyle Parmley
Vestavia Hills Softball
Vestavia Hills celebrates during a East Central Regional game on Friday, May 14, 2021, at Lagoon Park in Montgomery.
The Vestavia Hills High School softball team is playing with house money.
Not many expected the Rebels to make it out of the brutally tough Class 7A, Area 6. Their area was one of the most challenging in the state, featuring Hewitt-Trussville, Spain Park and Oak Mountain.
But two weeks ago, they did just that. After falling to Hewitt-Trussville in the opening round of the area tournament, the Rebels pulled off consecutive wins over Oak Mountain and Spain Park to clinch a spot at the regional tournament.
Last Friday, at the 7A East Central Regional in Montgomery, the Rebels were up against Hewitt-Trussville, Auburn and Central-Phenix City. They took another opening loss, falling to Auburn 3-1 in the first game of the tournament.
Auburn scored all three of its runs over the first two innings and that was all Auburn pitcher Hannah Pitts needed. Pitts struck out 13 Rebels over her seven-inning complete game. Vestavia got its lone run in the fourth inning on a Tait Davidson run-scoring hit.
Charity Bibbs did not pitch poorly, and settled in after the first couple innings. She finished with three runs allowed on nine hits with five strikeouts in six innings.
Vestavia Hills rebounded from that and stayed alive with an 8-3 win over Central-Phenix City. Central jumped ahead with a two-run opening inning, but the Rebels notched runs in the third through fifth innings to take the lead. They exploded for five in the sixth to pull away.
Bibbs, Libby Pippin and Davidson each drove in two runs in the contest. The Rebels also piled up 14 hits, with Kayla Franklin, Davidson and Sydney Harris each registering three of them.
Davidson went the distance, striking out nine and allowing just four hits.
Bibbs saved her best performance for the last game of the day, as she threw a one-hit shutout to lead the Rebels to a 2-0 victory over Auburn to lift Vestavia to its first state tournament appearance since 2016.
Bibbs also homered in the game, while Harris drove in the other Vestavia run. There were big defensive plays in the contest as well, as Ella Gallaspy and Harris each caught deep fly balls that had the potential to be home runs.
Vestavia Hills opens the state tournament Thursday at 9 a.m. against Fairhope.