SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Two top-10 softball teams battled to a close, dramatic finish on The Hill at Spanish Fort Monday night.

The No. 4-ranked, visiting 6A Fairhope Pirates came away with their 20th victory of the season in a 3-2 win and over the No. 10-Ranked 5A Spanish Fort Toros.

Grey Adams struck out 16 for the win to improve to 6-0. Adams also was 2-for-3 at the plate and Megan Dowdy went 2-for-4 with an RBI, two stolen bases and scored twice for the Pirates, who improved to 20-2 overall.

Brooke Lennicx doubled and Hannah Qualls had an RBI for the Pirates.

Morgan Yates went the distance for Spanish Fort with five strikeouts, a walk and six hits. Taylor Nail and Brianna Owens doubled, Amie Kelly and Alanna Phillips singled for the Toros (24-7-1). Kelly and Owens picked up the RBIs.

Yates also singled but was left on base.

Fairhope took a one-run lead early on a fair/foul judgment-call and held it until the sixth when SFHS tied it up 1-1. The Pirates went back up 3-1 and survived the back-to-back, run-scoring doubles of Nail and Owens in the bottom of the seventh.

“Just two good ball teams going after each other. And that's what’s great about softball in Baldwin County,” said Fairhope coach Jonathan Heflin. “And this kind of showcases the quality of play we have. Grey did a good job tonight and Morgan Yates for them kept us off balance all night.

“Coach (Sean) Womack has done a great job with them. They have athletes and they are going to play hard. It's always close when we play and usually a one-run game. You are never comfortable with a one or two run lead on them and they reminded us why.”

Spanish Fort coach Sean Womack said the match up with a highly-ranked 6A team was a good measuring gauge for the Toros.

“We’re disappointed that we didn’t swing the stick well for five innings. But we did show some character by fighting back and made them fight for it, too, at the end. We had a call we didn’t like, but that’s part of the game. And like I said in the dugout, we're not going to make excuses. The main thing is they (Fairhope) gave us a good test and if we stay within ourselves and learn to play through mistakes, we hope we will be ready for the playoffs.

“I’m proud of the girls. They could have just laid down and gave it up 3-0. But they didn't. Now, she (Adams) threw (real well) and made us like it. But a lot of it was, we got ourselves out too much, too. But Fairhope’s a good team.”

Fairhope is hitting .336 as a team. Dowdy is batting .618 and Lennicx .514 to lead at the plate.

The two clubs are slated to close out the regular season May 3 in a rematch at Fairhope. Varsity begins at 6:30 at Founders Park.