Tuscaloosa County came into the postseason ranked No. 10 and faced a brutal path to the Class 7A baseball finals that included perennial power Hoover and reigning state champion Bob Jones.

The Wildcats also had to play Game 3 of their semifinal series four days ago due to rain.

As it turns out, none of it mattered.

Brooks Mellown pitched seven shutout innings Friday at Jacksonville State, leading Tuscaloosa County to a dominating 7-0 win over No. 2 Enterprise and a sweep of the best-of-3 championship series.

The win gave TCHS the first state baseball championship in school history.

“It’s surreal,” first baseman Kole Nicholson said. “It’s something we talked about since the beginning of the year. We started on a pretty bad note, but we came together and envisioned winning a state title and dogpiling at the end of the year. The dream came true.”

Tuscaloosa County finished 34-13. The Wildcats swept James Clemens in the first round and beat Hoover and Bob Jones in three games each to make it to the championship series.

“These guys fought all the way through and stuck together,” coach Nick Richardson said.

Enterprise came into the series at 34-1 but was outscored 15-1 in the last two days. Marty Lovrich’s team also was trying to win the first baseball title in school history.

“Obviously, when you are on the end we are on, it’s always tough,” Lovrich said. “I don’t want two days to define what this team did this year. We played four months of consistent baseball. You have to tip your hat to Tuscaloosa County. My momma always told me to stay away from a hornet’s nest. We stepped in one today.”

With a large and boisterous student section behind them, Tuscaloosa County scored the first two runs of the game in the first inning and never lost momentum. Drew Keller walked to start the game and Nicholson followed with a single. Mellown drove in the first run with an RBI groundout. The second run scored on an Enterprise error.

“Against one of the best athletes and arms we’ve seen (Enterprise starter Brady Richardson), it was huge to come out and chip away and get two there,” Richardson said. “Momentum is a big thing in baseball.”

Tuscaloosa County scored two more times in the fourth on Dillon Dubose’s 2-run single and added three in the sixth on Andrew Jackson’s 2-run pinch hit single and Keller’s RBI single.

That was more than enough for Mellown. The junior struck out 8, walked just 1 and allowed 5 hits.

“I just thank he coaches for putting me in that position,” he said. “I believe in myself. I knew, with my guys behind me, I could get the job done if I went out and threw strikes. This team has plenty of confidence. No one thought we could get here. No one thought we would make it through area, but we got the job done.”

Enterprise had only one player reach third base and three others reach second against Mellown.

“Even yesterday (Game 1), every time we got something going to try to grab the momentum, we just couldn’t get it done and they would flip it,” Lovrich said. “Hats off to Nick. I’ve known him for a while. I saw him play, and his guys play like he did.”

Key statistics: Tuscaloosa County – Dubose was 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Jackson was 1-for-2 with 2 RBIs. Keller and Mellown also drove in runs. Enterprise – Richardson, Mikey Vanderheyden, Brady Cavanaugh, Cayden Boutwell and Walker Turner had hits. Richardson took the loss, giving up 7 runs on 5 hits. Dylan Yoo pitched the final 1.2 innings, scattering 4 hits.

This post will be updated