The Class 5A No. 2 Trojans of Charles Henderson High bounced back from a Tuesday morning defeat to No. 7 Briarwood Christian to claim an afternoon victory over 4A No. 2 Childersburg in the first day of the Nike Spring Break Classic in Gulf Shores.

CHHS (12-4) fell to Briarwood 10-0 in the opener, but defeated Childersburg 5-1.

“We didn’t compete in the first game of the day and there was no enthusiasm out there,” Irons said. “The good thing we took away from the day was the way we responded to adversity in game two. It was good to see how we came back and played a good game as a team.”

Mitch McLeod was the winning pitcher against Childersburg, allowing one run on three hits in six innings, with Jared Rogers retiring all three batters he faced in the seventh inning.

“Mitch pitched very well for us and his outing was very important for us,” Irons said.

The Trojans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when K.D. Edenfield doubled and Dario Rouse launched a home run deep to left-center field.

“K.D. had a great game at the plate and Dario had a huge hit for us,” Irons said. “It was a great team win.”

Edenfield started a rally again in the fourth when he singled, Rouse doubled, Daniel Hartley singled to drive in a run and McLeod drove a run home with an infield grounder for the 4-0 lead.

Childersburg cut the lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning, but CHHS went ahead 5-1 in the seventh when Edenfield doubled, Rouse singled and Edenfield scored on a sacrifice fly by Hartley.

Edenfield had three hits and scored three runs, while Rouse had three hits and scored twice. Hartley and Nathan Barron each had two hits, while Rogers and Jake Smith had one hit each.

“We were much more focused and competitive against Childersburg,” Irons said. “We made up our minds we did not want to make the same silly mistakes we made in the first game.”

The day opened with a playoff matchup from last season when CHHS faced Briarwood Christian, which the Trojans won a best two-of-three series a year ago.

Ben Bracewell – grandson of Troy’s Mr. and Mrs. Glen Bracewell – allowed no runs on two hits, striking out six and walking one. Hartley and Rouse each had one hit.

David Fleming got the start on the mound for the Trojans, allowing six runs on one hit in 1.2 innings, walking six and striking out two. Harrison Reeves followed and allowed four runs on two hits.

Rouse pitched the final two innings, allowing zero runs on zero hits.

CHHS will play Gardendale tonight at 7 p.m. and will take on Buckhorn Thursday at 3 p.m. to conclude pool play.

The Trojans will then wait and see if they make it into the semifinals of the tournament. There will be one team taken from each of the four pools and a champion will be determined.