Area tournaments, here we come

It's time for the postseason in Alabama high school softball

The regular season is history. Plenty of games were played (and plenty of them were affected by weather over the last week), tournaments were won, and lots of teams showed flashes of brilliance at times.

But none of that matters now. The area tournaments have arrived, as the high school softball postseason begins. Everybody gets one more crack at it.

If you’re new to how the process works, the winner of each area hosts the area tournament. The top two finishers in the area tournament advance to the regional tournament. The top two finishers in each regional tournament advance to the state tournament.

In other words, it’s about to get real.

Area tournaments will roll from Friday through Tuesday to set the field for the regional tournaments.

To find all the area tournament brackets, start here at this link and you should be able to find them all.

Continue to follow along on X at @KyleParmley for all the updates, the green screen, the bomb squad, etc.

There are plenty of areas where the top team or two teams are obvious. But there are a few areas that have three or even four teams that are pretty competitive, making for an interesting few days on the diamond. Here are a few areas I’ve got my eyes on:

Class 7A, Area 6
Host: Hoover
Teams: Hoover, Hewitt-Trussville, Vestavia Hills, Oak Mountain

These four Class 7A teams in the Birmingham area are capable of making some noise in the playoffs. Hoover and Hewitt-Trussville split during the regular season, while Oak Mountain knocked off Hoover and Vestavia Hills took down Hewitt once. All that to say, anything can happen Saturday and Monday.

Class 6A, Area 7
Host: Helena
Teams: Helena, Spain Park, Chelsea, Pelham

This one is already underway, and has the makings of high drama. All of these teams have shown that they’re capable of beating up on each other, so there’s no telling which two of these four make it out.

Class 6A, Area 2
Host: Spanish Fort
Teams: Spanish Fort, Gulf Shores, Baldwin County, McGill-Toolen

Between Spanish Fort, Gulf Shores and Baldwin County, one really good softball team is going to be eliminated before regionals. Spanish Fort got off to a hot start this year, including a win over Orange Beach, and has been one of the top 6A teams all season long. Gulf Shores moved up from 5A and has been really impressive. Baldwin County has one of the top pitchers in the land in Madilyn Byrd, who has risen to the occasion in the last two postseasons to give her team some huge wins.

Class 5A, Area 16
Host: Ardmore
Teams: Ardmore, Brewer, East Limestone, Priceville

Ardmore has been the best team in this area all season, but East Limestone did knock them off once. Brewer has continued to get better all season, evidenced by a runner-up finish in the Morgan County Tournament a couple weeks back. Priceville is always competitive as well, beating Brewer twice already this year.

Class 5A, Area 5
Host: Holtville
Teams: Holtville, Marbury, Brew Tech

Here we have three pretty solid teams that have had recent postseason success. It’s a shame that one of them won’t make it to regionals.

Class 4A, Area 16
Host: Central-Florence
Teams: Central, Brooks, Hatton, Deshler, Wilson

This is another fun one. Central was red-hot just a few weeks ago, rolling off several wins to lock up the area. Brooks has been a staple of the postseason the last few years, and the defending state runner-up is not done just yet. Hatton’s move up to 4A this season hasn’t been easy, but the Hornets are capable. Deshler has two of the best pitchers in town and Wilson has wins over Central, Brooks and Deshler already this season. Good luck sorting this one out.

Class 4A, Area 14
Host: Madison County
Teams: Madison County, Plainview, New Hope, North Jackson, DAR

This one is a doozy. Madison County and Plainview split. New Hope and Plainview split. North Jackson hasn’t quite been as good this season as in years past, but you never know. DAR is sneaky, too. It wouldn’t be surprising if two teams from this area ended up in the state tournament.

Class 4A, Area 12
Host: Alexandria
Teams: Alexandria, Cherokee County, White Plains, Cleburne County

Alexandria went unbeaten in area play, but this one is far from a foregone conclusion. Cherokee County is the No. 5 team in 4A, and White Plains is still a really solid bunch, despite not having standout Callie Richardson for the last five weeks.

Class 3A, Area 14
Host: Lauderdale County
Teams: Lauderdale County, Rogers, Colbert County, Clements

Lauderdale County made a bit of a run in the county tournament a couple weeks back. Rogers had a big start to the year before cooling off, but has played much better recently. Colbert County, led by Hallie and Kylee Holland, are more than capable as well.