Morgan County (24-5) enters the postseason this week as the top seed in the Class 2A state tournament.
The Dogs wrapped up their 2025 schedule by going 3-3 to end the regular season.
Morgan County lost to Class 4A’s then-ranked No. 7 Ola during spring break before winning two out of three games against Callaway to clinch the Region 2-AA title. The Cavaliers handed the Dogs their only loss in region play, but Morgan managed to win the series and secure the top overall seed entering the state playoffs.
Morgan County head coach Steve Westmoreland was happy his team won the region championship.
“It wasn’t our best performance, but we needed to win one out of the three,” Westmoreland said. “We got the first one, gave up the second one, and then came back and won an ugly game the next day, but our guys did what we needed to do and got the win. Anytime you win a region championship, it’s a big deal for your school.”
The Dogs then concluded the season against Class 3A’s thenranked No. 5 Oconee County, splitting games with the Warriors to end the season. They lost the first game 5-2 at home but won the final contest 14-7 on the road.
Now, Morgan County begins its quest for a state championship after being battle-tested over the last two weeks. Ola, Callaway, and Oconee County are playoff teams and presented the Dogs with a challenging test before the start of the postseason. They also faced several playoff-caliber teams at the beginning of the season.
“We wanted to play somebody good going into the playoffs. We feel like we’ve played three teams in a row for the last two weeks who are playoff-caliber, which prepares us for what we will see in the postseason,” Westmoreland said. “Our schedule on the front end was tough, so I think we’re prepared for what we’re gonna see.”
Morgan County is equipped with excellent arms and solid bats to make a deep run in the postseason.
However, Westmoreland thinks the team has recently lacked energy, so he needs his players to step up if they want to win a title. He believes the long grind of the regular season has worn down his team in the last two weeks.
Regardless, Westmoreland saw the team’s energy return in the Dogs’ 14-7 win over Oconee County last week.
“If you asked me yesterday, I would say there are a whole lot of concerns because we haven’t played very well in the last few weeks, but the guys have worked really hard,” Westmoreland said after the victory over the Warriors in the regular season finale. “We brought some energy today, which we’re going to have to do, but we are who we are. We’re going to throw a lot of strikes, and we’ve got some guys one through nine in the order of who can swing the bat well. If we are just ourselves every day, we feel like we have a chance to win.”
Morgan County will host Butler for a doubleheader in the first round of the Class 2A state tournament. If the teams split on Friday, a winner-takes-all game three will be played on Saturday at Tracy Brown Field in Madison.