The Lady Trojans are heading to Montgomery to compete for the state championship after sweeping third-ranked Speake High School Saturday. Abbie Melvin threw two complete games for ABS, and Allie McCurry led the ABS offense with five hits in the doubleheader.

ABS jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of game one. McCurry and Brooke Chittam hit RBI singles, and Kerri Pender pounded a two-out, two-RBI double for the Lady Trojans.

The Lady Bobcats pulled to within 4-3 in the top of the third inning, but Chittam threw out the potential tying run at the plate, blocked by Pender, to hold the lead.

ABS responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring two, extending the lead to 6-3.

Speake tied the game in the top of the seventh inning, scoring three runs. Kylie Black, who also pitched two complete games, hit an RBI double off the centerfield fence and later scored to knot the game at 6-6 and force extra innings.

In the bottom of the eighth, ABS scored the winning run the old-fashioned way. Haley Chittam led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second. Chelsea Burgess then lined the game-winning single to centerfield, plating Chittam and giving ABS a 7-6 victory and a one game lead in the series.

The second game was the polar opposite of the first game. Locked in a classic pitching duel, Melvin of ABS and Black of Speake kept the teams scoreless through five innings of play.

In the sixth, ABS pushed across two runs. Katie Eubanks drove in Burgess with an infield single and McCurry crushed a triple in right-center to drive in Eubanks.

In the seventh, Haley Chittam scored on Emily Irwin’s fielder’s choice, Burgess singled and scored and McCurry lined another triple in the gap to give the Lady Trojans the winning 5-0 score.

Melvin finished the game allowing only three hits and one walk, striking out five Lady Bobcats. Eubanks, Brooke Chittam, Pender and Burgess all collected two hits for ABS in the doubleheader.

With the win, the Lady Trojans advance to the Class 1A state tournament at Lagoon Park in Montgomery. Their first game will be at 9 a.m. Thursday.