VESTAVIA HILLS — Of the five local high school softball teams to make it into the AHSAA North Central Regional Tournament last weekend, only one punched its ticket to the state championships in Montgomery — and it’s a team that know the directions to Lagoon Park very, very well.

Mortimer Jordan will defend its Class 5A title yet again, as it went through the regional undefeated and with relative ease, defeating tenth-ranked Albertville 10-5 in the finals Saturday at Liberty Park. It was the second victory over the Aggies in the tournament, after the Devils dispensed with No. 2 Moody — the team they faced in last year’s state championship game.

Haylie McCleney was the difference in the 2-0 win over Moody. As is typical for the Alabama signee, she bunted her way onto first base in the opening at-bat of the game, then moved around on a steal, a walk and an error to score. The other run was a little more spectacular — a solo homer blasted down the right field line, bouncing off the outer fence 25 feet behind the temporary fencing used for fast-pitch ball.

That effort led in part to McCleney being named the tournament’s most valuable player.

Meanwhile, pitcher Bailey Murphy was giving Moody batters fits, just as she had done with Albertville in the second round. The eighth-grade lefty’s movement on the ball sent batters flailing away, as Murphy struck out 13. She had fanned 14 Aggie batters in the 3-1 semifinal game victory. The final game was the only one where she didn’t have double digits in strikeouts.

“Bailey coming in has been a turnaround, but all year we’ve hit well and caught decently, and she just added another piece to the puzzle,” Devils head coach Shawn Maze said. “She’s a little tight and sore from pitching all weekend, but she’ll fight through that. I believe I would give co-MVPs to McCleney and Bailey both.”

The regional title is the latest stepping stone in a season that certainly didn’t start off like a run to the state tournament. The Devils began twice as many losses as wins, as they struggled to find a consistent pitcher — even calling on McCleney at times, despite the fact that she hadn’t pitched since seventh grade.

That changed when Murphy finished her duties with North Jefferson Middle School’s county champion team, and became available for full-time varsity duty.

Since that time, the Blue Devils have won 12 out of 13 games, with the lone loss against seventh-ranked Hueytown, in which Murphy was held out so she would be rested for a crucial area contest against Curry the next day. They won their last 10 straight games, and have allowed on 15 runs in the 12 wins — five of those runs against Albertville in the regional final, and five others against Mountain Brook. In the remaining 10 games, Murphy has allowed one run in half of them, and threw shutouts in the others.

After the final game, Murphy was starting to realize that she was going to the state tourney as a starter. (She pitched one inning of relief last year at Lagoon Park, the only one of 48 innings that Blair Johnson didn’t throw.)

“It feels really amazing,” Murphy said. “Having the backup from my team is really cool.”

“She takes a lot of pressure off the hitters,” McCleney said. “We have confidence in her that she can go out and do what she needs to do. We don’t feel as much pressure to score runs.”

While observers outside the Devils’ camp may have thought the team’s prospects for a return to the state tournament to be a longshot, especially after losing five graduates to NCAA Division I programs and a nationally-ranked junior college team in the past two seasons, Maze never had a doubt — even in the dark early days of this season.

“Yes — anytime you strap it on and work hard and you don’t believe that [you’re going to state], it’s hard to get anything accomplished,” Maze said.

It will be the ninth consecutive berth in the state tournament for Jordan, and the 11th in the past 13 years. The Devils will try for their fourth title in five years.

McCleney likes the team’s chances.

“I think we have as good a shot as anyone, especially with her [Murphy] pitching. There were some doubts early on, but we stuck it out but God got us through it.”

The trip to Montgomery will also be the first as a head coach for Maze, but it’s still familiar territory. In his six seasons coaching at the varsity level, his teams have all made it to the state tournament — first with Hoover, then with Jordan.

For the rest of the local teams, the North Central Regional was the end of the line for their 2012 campaigns.

Gardendale edged out Northridge 3-2 in its opening game, then ran into eventual Class 6A champion Vestavia Hills, which dealt the Rockets an 8-1 defeat.

Gardendale looked to be on the verge of a rebound in the loser’s bracket matchup with fourth-ranked Pelham, thanks to a solo homers by Carrigan Fain and Chelsey Deloney. But the Panthers scored two runs in the sixth inning to tie, and another in seventh to take the lead, due in part to some defensive lapses by the Rockets.

Gardendale had a big opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, with the runners on second and third with two out, and Deloney and Fain up to bat. Deloney drew a walk to load the bases, but Fain struck out to end the game and the season.

Hayden faced a tough draw in the Class 5A bracket, with their neighbors to the south potentially in their way. A meeting with Jordan never happened, though. The Wildcats trounced John Carroll Catholic 14-1 in five innings of the opener, in which Katie Parr broke Madison Durham’s school record for home runs in a season with her 13th bomb. The Cats then fell to Moody 2-0 in the second round, but easily polished off Pinson Valley 10-1 in the loser’s bracket.

However, the wheels fell off for Hayden against Albertville, in a game the Wildcats led 2-0 going into the fifth inning. The Aggies broke the game open with five runs in the top of the seventh to win 8-3 and seal Hayden’s fate.

No. 10 Corner started their march through the Class 4A bracket well with a 9-0 shutout of Munford in the first round. But then the Yellow Jackets ran headlong into second-ranked Cherokee County, losing 5-0.

The Jackets came back to knock off No. 9 Alexandria 6-3 in the loser’s bracket, but then ended their tournament with an 11-0 defeat by seventh-ranked Springville in six innings, only the third time Corner has lost by the run rule in Aaron James’ tenure as coach.

Fultondale did not fare well in Class 2A, going two and out on the first day. The Wildcats fell to Lamar County 11-2 in the first round, and were handed a 14-0 five-inning loss by Lineville — the same school that knocked Fultondale out of the football playoffs last November. (Sumiton Christian emerged as the regional champion.)