ROBERTSDALE, Alabama — The Robertsdale Lady Bears won their Lady Bear Invitational softball tournament with an 8-3 victory over Spanish Fort on Saturday.

Freshman Shelby Claire Long pitched 5 2/3 innings to get the win for the Bears, who defeated Gulf Shores and Baldwin County in elimination games to reach the finals.

"We finally put some things together and got good pitching together with good hitting and got our defense going," Robertsdale head coach Barry Roberts said. "The kids did a good job. When you do smart things and do the things you are taught to do, good things happen."

Long struck out one in the win and pitched her way out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the first. Spanish Fort's three runs scored off a bases loaded fielding error in bottom of the fifth.

"Early in the game she hit her spots," Roberts said of Long's performance. "Our philosophy is throw one pitch to set the next pitch up, and she did a very good job of that. When she does that we can keep hitters off balance."

Carmen Vivar came on to face Spanish Fort's last hitter, who grounded out to second base. Morgan Yates took the loss for the Toros.

The Bears loaded the bases and scored four runs on an RBI single from Carly Jefferson, a sacrifice from Ally Bertolla and a Spanish Fort fielding error in the first inning. Beth Taylor had a sacrifice fly in the second and a sacrifice bunt in the fifth. Harley Volovecky added a run when she scored from third on a wild pitch in the fourth.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Bears defeated Gulf Shores 13-0 and topped the Baldwin County Tigers 4-3 in the semifinals. Vivar got the win against Gulf Shores, while she and Brooke McGhee combined for the win over Baldwin County. Spanish Fort defeated Flomaton to reach the finals. Olivia Cox pitched the Toros to the semifinal win over the Hurricanes.

Roberts was pleased with the way the tournament, which started with pool play on Friday, turned out.

"It took a lot of people to have this successful tournament," he said. "It took a lot of volunteers and a lot of hours spent up here, and those people deserve a lot of credit."

Robertsdale and Spanish Fort will both play in the Fairhope tournament on Friday.