Thorsby’s baseball team started the season strong, climbing to No. 3 in the state’s Class 1A, but faded.

But the Rebels hope the return from an injury of a pivotal player and a county tournament championship has them back at their best for a first-round playoff series at Ranburne on Friday and Saturday.

Thorsby, now No. 4 in Class 2A, has allowed only four runs in a four-game winning streak, the last half of which won the team the county tournament. Christian Sorcia, who injured his ankle in the third game of the season, returned for Tuesday’s championship game, going 2-for-2 with a double and a walk. Sorcia is now 12-for-12 at the plate on the season.

“Nothing replaces confidence,” Thorsby coach Ab Argent said and added the Rebels were missing that confidence as they struggled through the last couple of weeks of the regular season, when everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. “The last couple of days didn’t do anything but give us some confidence.”

Getting Sorcia back ahead of schedule helped. Sorcia still runs with a noticeable limp, but Argent played him at catcher so that he wouldn’t have to run on defense and a courtesy runner could be employed should Sorcia reach base on offense.

Sorcia banged the baseball off the outfield wall in his first plate appearance in the 5-3 win over Jemison.

“He’s just a competitor,” Argent said. “We’ve been real fortunate and blessed that he’s been able to come back as quickly as he did. Maybe our fortunes are kind of turning a little bit.”

Thorsby (18-5, 4-2 area) and Ranburne will play a doubleheader beginning at 4 p.m. Friday. If necessary, Game 3 would be played at noon Saturday.