Staring down a 3-2 count in the bottom of the ninth inning, Thompson’s Ma’Kale Holden blasted a walk-off grand slam as the second-ranked Warriors rallied for a 13-12 victory over No. 8 Spain Park to clinch a first-round playoff series in Saturday’s matchup in Alabaster.

Spain Park (25-13) broke a 9-all tie with three ninth-inning runs. scoring on singles from Chapman Blevins and Sam Waldrop that sandwiched a sacrifice fly from Aiden Berke. Berke issued a walk and allowed a single to open Thompson’s half of the inning.

Connor Langston took the mound in relief of Berke with both runners on base and no outs, allowing a single to load the bases, and was tagged with the loss after giving up the walk-off grand slam to Holden.

Thompson (28-10) fell behind 3-0 through two innings, but answered with a three-run third inning to cut the Spain Park advantage to 4-3 entering the fourth.

Jacob Byrd scored the first run of the game for Spain Park on an RBI ground out in the top of the second, followed by Coleman Gray, who scored Waldrop and Richard Moon on a two-run single before getting caught stealing to end the frame. Blevins brought Rhys Jones home on a double in the third, but Berke hit into the rare center field-to-catcher-to-third double play to close out the top half of the inning.

The Warriors finally responded with its first run on a single from Troy commit Peryn Bland, who eventually stole home after a wild pitch sent him to third base, and fellow Troy commit Drake McBride scored on a passed ball.

Spain Park added a run on a sacrifice fly by Matthew Widra, giving the Jaguars a 5-3 lead, but the Warriors tied the game up on a two-run homer from Ethan Crook in the bottom half of the fifth. The Jaguars powered back ahead to an 8-5 advantage in the top of the sixth, scoring on a bases-loaded walk and a two-run single from Blevins.

Thompson cut into the deficit with a sacrifice fly from Bray Smith and forced extra innings after trailing 9-6 entering the bottom half of the seventh. Tucker Arrington and D’Marion Terrell led off the inning with back-to-back singles and McBride brought both home on a double. Crook tied the game on a single that scored McBride from second.

Star of the Game: Holden. The Alabama commit went 2-of-5 at the plate with a single in the third inning and the walk-off grand slam in the ninth.

“We desperately needed a play and my team did what they needed to do to set me up. I knew I was down to my last swing so I took a breath and just put everything I had into it. I still can’t believe we just did that,” he said.

Stat sheet: Thompson – D’Marion Terrell earned the victory on the mound, allowing four runs on three hits in three innings of work, and went 2-of-4 at the plate with a pair of singles. Crook went 3-of-4 with a two-run homer and an RBI single and McBride was 2-of-3 with a single and two-run double. Spain Park – Every Spain Park player that went to the plate earned a hit but only one player did not score a teammate. Blevins led the way for the Jaguars, going 4-of-6 with three singles, a double and four total RBIs, and Waldrop was 2-of-4 with a pair of singles. Jones, Widra and Berke registered two singles while grabbing an RBI each on sacrifices.

Coachspeak: “I thought maybe we might be done after allowing that 3-spot in the top of the ninth but our guys responded to adversity about as well as you can. Like I said last night, it was a battle – this is the playoffs and it’s supposed to be like that– and didn’t expect any less today. Really proud of our guys for not giving up and fighting to the end.” — Thompson’s Frankie Perez

“This was the most competitive playoff series I’ve ever coached in my career. I hate it ended the way it did for us but we had plenty of opportunities to end it and take the series. I’m really proud of our team for coming in here and not backing down from a really explosive team. We were excellent at the play but could not get off the field when we needed to the most.” — Spain Park’s Will Smith

What’s next: Thompson advances to face top-ranked Bob Jones next week in the quarterfinal round of the AHSAA playoffs.