The Birmingham area Class 7A baseball playoff teams are set following Thursday games, but there’s controversy over the top seed in Area 6.

Second-ranked Thompson downed seventh-ranked Hoover 7-2 to earn the top seed In Area 5 with Hoover the No. 2 seed.

Eighth-ranked Spain Park’s 6-4 win over Chelsea and fifth-ranked Hewitt-Trussville’s 3-1 victory over Oak Mountain meant the teams were tied atop Area 6 with 4-2 records, the teams splitting regular season games.

While Spain Park expected a Saturday tiebreaker game to determine the top seed, Hewitt-Trussville opted out of the Saturday game, instead using one of the AHSAA tie-breaking procedures to garner the No. 1 seed. According to Spain Park coach Will Smith, Hewitt-Trussville coach Jeff Mauldin informed him of the decision on Thursday night.

“I’m really trying to take the high road here,” Smith said. “I very much like and respect (Hewitt-Trussville) and I wish them nothing but the best. We’re thankful to be in the playoffs, thankful to have the opportunity to play. We’re one of 16 7A teams that are getting to play next week.

“I think it’s a good life lesson for our kids. They were kind of pissed about it, but we’ll get over it and we’ll be ready to play next week.”

With the Area 6 top spot going to Hewitt-Trussville, the Huskies will host Area 5 runnerup Hoover while Area 5 winner Thompson hosts Spain Park.

AHSAA tie-breaking procedures specify that only two games between area opponents count toward determining the top seeds, but a third game can be counted if there’s a tie for No. 1 or No. 2. The game can be played during the season or at the end of the season if necessary to break the tie.

The situation happened in Area 6 last season when Chelsea and Hewitt-Trussville were tied for second after Spain Park won the area. The teams played the extra game after the regular season and Chelsea won to earn the No. 2 seed.

Smith said the decision to play the extra game if needed at the end of the season instead of during the season was decided by area coaches during the last cycle of AHSAA reclassification in 2022.

“Our area, (coaches Derek Irons of Oak Mountain Michael Stallings of Chelsea, Mauldin and Smith) agreed to play off all ties,” Smith said. “And obviously they had the tie last year, they played it off. I didn’t even know who had (this year’s) tiebreaker, to be honest with you, until last night. I just assumed that there was going to be a third game tomorrow.”

Tie-breaking procedure F — No. 6 of 10 possible scenarios — was used to determine the outcome. It states: “If the two teams split their two regular season area games, the team which had the highest winning percentage against all common, non-area opponents will be the area champion (or runner-up).”

The common non-area opponents were Tuscaloosa County, James Clemens, Briarwood, Pelham and Helena. Hewitt-Trussville’s record against the opponents was 5-2 while Spain Park’s record was 4-2. It came down to the Helena games, which Hewitt-Trussville won and Spain Park lost.

Spain Park played Helena on Feb. 17, only its second game of the season.

“Letter F, all the way down to that,” Smith said. “Everybody wants to play it off on the field. You don’t want to have this happen. Ultimately, a game in February, we didn’t even have our basketball players at that time, that determined whether we were 1 or 2.”

Smith wishes there was more guidance for situations like this.

“I have a ton of respect for Jeff and the Hewitt program,” Smith said. “I wish them nothing but the best moving forward. I hope this scenario doesn’t happen to anybody else. And I guess it’s one of those things where you wish the state would intervene and mandate that ‘hey, you’ve got to play three games, or hey, you go to do this’ so you don’t run into this situation again.”

Hewitt-Trussville athletic director Lance Walker did not immediately return a phone message from AL.com on Friday night.

THURSDAY GAMES

Spain Park 6, Chelsea 4

Spain Park got 4 runs early and 2 late to earn the victory and set up the tiebreaker game against Hewitt-Trussville on Saturday.

James Battersby’s 2-run single highlighted the 4-run first for the Jags with Aiden Berke adding a run on a sacrifice fly and Sam Waldrop’s groundout scoring a run.

Rhys Jones scored on a passed ball in the fifth and Sapin Park added the final run in the seventh, Tyler Walker stealing third — the Jags had 7 stolen bases in the game — and scoring on an error. Walker had 2 steals as did Jones.

Chelsea got a run in the in the home first inning on an error and closed the gap to 4-3 in the fourth on a single by Chase Lackey. The Hornets again closed the margin to a run after scoring on a fifth inning error for a 5-4 deficit, but could get no closer.

Spain Park’s Battersby was 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and a run, Coleman Gray was 2-for-4, Jones was 1-for-2 with 2 runs, Matthew Widra had a hit and a run and Berke had an RBI.

Starter Richard Moon got the win, throwing 2 2/3 innings with 2 strikeouts and allowing 3 hits and a run while Blake Patrick pitched 3 hitless innings with 3 strikeouts and allowing an unearned run.

Chelsea’s Aiden Cravan had a hit and 2 runs, Lackey was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Mack Breazeale had a run and RBI.

Hewitt-Trussville 3, Oak Mountain 1

Hewitt-Trussville scored 2 runs in the fourth and 1 in the sixth while three pitchers combined to allow a run on 2 hits with 6 strikeouts.

The Huskies scored first in the fourth when Brett Moseley doubled to start the inning and Colby Durden stroked an RBI double for the first run of the game. Cam Simpson singled home Durden for a 2-0 Hewitt lead.

Hewitt added an insurance run in the sixth when Sam Scarborough’s RBI-single scored Durden, who singled to start the inning.

Starter Cooper Huffman got the win, throwing 4 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts and allowing a hit while Hudson Mitchell pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing a hit and run with 2 strikeouts. Christian Helmers got the save with a seventh inning strikeout and coxing a fly ball for the final out.

Durden was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and 2 runs scored while Simpson was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Mosley and Helmers doubled.

Oak Mountain got its lone run when Alex Harrison singled home pinch hitter Bryson Morman, who walked.

Thompson 7, Hoover 2

Thompson’s Drake McBride stroked a run-scoring hit in the home first and Wyatt Williams’s 2-run single proved all the runs the Warriors needed.

A two-out bases-loaded walk by Hoover’s Jaxson Wood cut Thompson’s lead to 3-1 in the second, prompting a pitching change for starter D’Marion Terrell, Carter Thompson in relief. Thompson got the final out on a grounder to third base.

The Bucs made it 3-2 on Carter Jackman’s sacrifice fly in the third inning, but could get no closer.

Thompson’s Terrell stroked a 2-run homer in the bottom of the third for a 5-2 lead while Tucker Arrington’s sacrifice fly and Peryn Bland’s run on a wild pitch ended the scoring.

McBride was 2-for-3 with an RBI and 2 runs, Terrell was 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs, and Williams was 1-for-3 with 2 RBIs.

Terrell pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing a hit and a run, striking out 1 and walking 4. Thompson threw 3 1/3 innings with 3 hits and allowing a run while Ben Ferrell allowed 3 hits in 2 innings.

Wood was 1-for-3 with a double and RBI while Andy Howard was 2-for-4.