May 22—HARTSELLE — It’s been almost a week since the Hartselle Tigers brought home their 10th state baseball championship with a win over Chelsea.
After a full year of hard work following Hartselle’s runner-up finish in 2024, they’re still taking it all in.
“Winning a state championship, that’s all I’ve thought about, especially after losing last year,” said junior Asher Doepel. “To finally get it, it was very satisfying.”
Add an individual honor to that as well. Doepel was named MVP of the state tournament.
In three games he finished with six hits, including a double, three RBIs, two walks and two runs scored. He also pitched in all three games, totaling 8 1/3 innings while allowing 10 hits and three runs with six strikeouts. He earned a save in Game 2 and a win in Game 3.
“I’ve always felt like I play better when the pressure is at its highest,” Doepel said. “I think there’s a lot of people that didn’t even know I pitched before this year, so me getting the ball in Game 3 might have come as a surprise, but it was exactly the way I wanted it.”
Hartselle’s last state title was in 2022, and none of the current players were part of that team. This time, they also had a new head coach, Brad Phillips.
“Now that we’ve had time to let it settle, looking back, you have to be proud of what we — what the boys — were able to accomplish,” Phillips said. “Class 6A is generally regarded as one of the toughest, if not the toughest, to win in baseball so it’s a pretty big deal. The season also comes to a screeching halt whether you win or not because the next week is graduation, so it’s always great to end the year with a championship.
“There was a lot of work that went into this so seeing the guys smile and have fun on the bus ride back was pretty cool.”
Even though he had been at Hartselle just a year, Phillips learned quickly there was no one he trusted more in a winner-take-all Game 3 than Doepel.
“There are some guys that just have that ‘it’ factor, and he’s one of those guys,” Phillips said. “His performance speaks for itself. To appear in all three games on the mound and also do what he did at the plate, I’m not sure how many guys could’ve done that.”
While Hartselle returned just three players from 2024’s runner-up team, the Tigers will return seven starters from 2025’s Game 3. That includes Doepel (leadoff hitter, pitcher, third base), Cole Miles (third, left field), Cruise Baker (fifth, center field), Braden Weathers (sixth, first base), Carter Lee (seventh, second base), Cole Griffin (catcher, batted eighth in game one and two) and Cain Falciani (ninth, right field). They also return their Game 2 starter at pitcher in Connor Stiles.
“The core group is there, but there’s a lot that goes into winning a championship. You can’t just roll out there and expect to win one,” Phillips said. “There’s several teams every year that are expected to win a championship that don’t even come close. If we want to repeat, we have to continue to get better.”
Phillips said right now he just wants his team focused on enjoying the championship they’ve already won, but Doepel in particular already has his eyes set on more hardware.
“I’m ready to get back to work,” Doepel said. “Losing (in 2024) lit a fire under us this year, and now I think winning has us hungry to chase that feeling again. Let’s go get No. 11.”
— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2