Saraland’s Bryson Goff already had a solid day on the mound, earning a victory in the first game of a playoff doubleheader, but saved the heroics for his final at-bat of the series.

Leading by eight runs with two outs and Santae McWilliams on first, in the bottom of the fifth inning, Goff delivered a line drive up the middle on a 1-1 count and only heard the voices of teammates urging the sophomore to keep running after reaching second base on an errant throw.

“I slid in and I looked up to the dugout,” Goff said. “Everybody was yelling ‘go, go, go’ and I looked back and the ball is rolling to the fence. So I take off and made it. That’s it.”

The third-ranked Spartans earned a doubleheader sweep over Helena, 4-2 and 11-2, in Friday’s second-round matchup.

Saraland carries a 26-9 record into the third round of the Class 6A playoffs, where the Spartans will take on rival Spanish Fort.

“Helena has a heck of a program and one of the best coaches in the state in P.J. Guy, who does it right,” Saraland coach Brett Boutwell said. “We knew coming up here was going to be tough. I really liked our guys’ mindset going into today.”

In the opener, Saraland struck first in the third inning on a solo home run by Camron Laffitte, who would go 4-for-4 with two singles, a double and the homer in the first game and 1-for-3 with a two-run triple and two runs in the second game.

“I saw the ball really well this whole series,” Laffitte said. “He left it open in the middle, and I punished it.”

Helena responded in the bottom half of the inning, scoring on a Brayden Kendrick triple that brought lead-off hitter Jarret Scott home to tie the game at 1-1 after three frames.

The Spartans took the lead for good in the fifth inning with McWilliams scoring on a sac fly from Cam Warren. They extended their lead to 4-1 in the final frame on back-to-back RBI singles from Jamison Curtis and Ben Buxton. Helena added a one-out run in the bottom of the seventh but was unable to rally with consecutive outs to end the game.

Goff earned the win in a complete game, allowing two runs on seven hits and four walks and collecting six strikeouts. Helena’s Colton Willmon allowed two runs on six hits, but Ryan Pearson was tagged with the loss after giving up two runs in the final frame.

“He’s taken it upon himself to set the tone,” Boutwell said. “Another outstanding and gutsy performance.”

Helena (14-20) got on the board first in the second game, scoring on an RBI single from Kendrick, but the Spartans took control in the bottom half of the inning with four runs scored while batting through the order.

All but three players reached safely for Saraland in the opening frame.

The Spartans added three runs to their lead in the second frame as Laffitte brought in two runs on a triple and scored on a wild pitch.

“Camron, the past three or four weeks, has really been able to get some big-time hits for us,” Boutwell said. “The home run in the first game was big. Once we got the lead, it was time to play ball.”

Saraland kept the pressure on in the fourth frame, adding two runs on a hit batter with bases loaded and an RBI single from Fuller Chisholm.

Needing two runs to force the 10-run mercy rule, Saraland allowed one base runner for Helena in the top of the fifth and walked it off in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single from Goff, bringing McWilliams home, and a throwing error at second base that allowed the former to round third for the winning score.

“I knew what was coming,” Goff said. “We found out that inning what he was throwing and when I saw it, it was the same pitch. Boom. I hit it.”

Evan Hilliard was credited with a complete game win, allowing a single run off six hits, and Hayden Berry took the loss for the Huskies despite working only one inning. Logan Barber and Bennett Plowden allowed the final six runs.