3 repeat winners; Buford emerges from losers bracket
By RONALD FRAZIER
Special to the Ledger-Enquirer
Five state fastpitch softball championships were decided Saturday at the South Commons Softball Complex: three repeat champions and two new ones (Class AAA and Class AAAA).
The biggest comeback was in Class AA as Buford came through the losers bracket and won three games Saturday for its fifth straight state title.
Class A
Top-ranked Gordon Lee again used the pitching of Brenna Nation to capture its second straight title, defeating Wesleyan 6-1. Nation gave up only four hits and one run as she kept her record unblemished (24-0) in 2011. Nation finished her high school career with a 72-1 record.
Gordon Lee scored all the runs it needed when Kendall Johnson delivered an RBI single in the first inning and Nation helped her cause by hitting a two-run homer to jump to a 3-0 lead. They added two more runs on four hits in the second and a single run in the third to close it out.
Gordon Lee has been the top-ranked team in Class A all year and finished with a 37-1 record. Wesleyan was 27-14.
Class AA
The Class AA championship was the most unlikely as Buford (35-11) won its fifth straight championship the hard way.
The Lady Wolves, who were in the losers bracket, first defeated Blessed Trinity 9-1 to advance to the championship round against unbeaten Pike County, the team that beat them 3-2 Friday.
Down 8-3 in the fourth inning to Pike in the first game, the Lady Wolves came roaring back, sparked by home runs by Lexi Overstreet and Teresa Daniels to rally and take an 11-8 lead.
Pike wasn’t done yet and scored two runs in the seventh inning, but the final out was made with the tying run in scoring position to force a decisive game.
Overstreet and her teammates made sure the Lady Wolves would take the crown as they pounded Pike 12-2, bashing four homers. Overstreet hit another shot, Kallie Case produced two, and Madyson Wynegar added the other.
Overstreet hit five home runs in the tournament to lead all classifications in that department.
Buford has won a state softball title in seven of the past eight seasons.
Class AAA
After a three-year absence from the championship game, Oconee County came back and got a four-hit shutout from Courtney Poole (20-2) to ease past West Laurens (36-7-1) by a 2-0 score in a game that lasted only 75 minutes.
Brianna Dickens broke up as scoreless game against Abi LeRoy (18-3) when she scored on a single by Savannah Stoker in the fourth inning and then doubled in her pitcher, Poole, with an insurance run in the sixth.
Class AAAA
Northgate prevailed 4-3 in eight innings over Whitewater.
Northgate ( 28-6) jumped to a 3-0 lead on a three-run homer by Andie Marin, but Whitewater (38-10), tied the game 3-3 with a solo shot from McKenzie Toler and RBI singles by Samantha Wilt and Peyton Roth.
The Lady Vikings scored the winning run in the eighth inning, when Katie Sachs scored from third on a fielder’s choice and Northgate prevented the Wildcats from getting their runner home in the bottom of the inning to take the title.
Class AAAAA
Collins Hill (29-7) made it three years in a row with pitcher Kayla Floor winning her third straight championship game, 6-4, against the Mill Creek Hawks (31-12-1) despite the hitting prowess of the Hawks’ Chandler Griffin.
Griffin hit two home runs as Mill Creek beat Hillgrove 9-8 in the losers bracket final and connected on a two-run shot against Floor in the bottom of the sixth.
But it wasn’t enough.
Floor had given up a two-run homer in the first to Nikki Sagaerman, but the Eagles scored in the second, third, fourth and sixth innings to go ahead 6-2.
The win was especially good for Floor, who missed half the season with a quad injury. After winning 30 games her junior year and winning back-to-back Class AAAAA Pitcher of the Year honors, she nothced her 14th win in her third title appearance.
@BR Storylabel w/50graylabel:ELITE 8 SCORES
at South Commons Softball Complex
Columbus
Double-elimination
Class A
Thursday’s Games
Gordon Lee 4, Bryan County 3
Mount Pisgah 12, Brookstone 0
George Walton 3, Calvary Day 0
Wesleyan 9, Bacon County 6
Gordon Lee 14, Mount Pisgah 0
Wesleyan 7, George Walton 2
Friday’s Games
Bryan County 9, Brookstone 1
Calvary Day 6, Bacon County 5
George Walton 5, Bryan County 4
Mount Pisgah 10, Calvary Day 8
Gordon Lee 9, Wesleyan 0
George Walton 2, Mount Pisgah 0
Saturday’s Games
Wesleyan 10, George Walton Academy 8
Gordon Lee 6, Wesleyan 1
Class AA
Thursday’s Games
Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 5, Bleckley County 1
Pike County 5, Fannin County 0
Buford 8, SE Bulloch 0
Blessed Trinity 10, Brantley County 2
Pike County 4, Lakeview-FO 3
Buford 12, Blessed Trinity 0
Friday’s Games
Fannin County 3, Bleckley County 0
SE Bulloch 7, Brantley County 2
Blessed Trinity 4, Fannin County 3
Lakeview-FO 9, SE Bulloch 0
Pike County 3, Buford 2
Blessed Trinity 6, Lakeview-FO 3
Saturday’s Games
Buford 9, Blessed Trinity 1
Buford 11, Pike County 10
Buford 12, Pike County 2
Class AAA
Thursday’s Games
Ringgold 4, Cross Creek 1
Allatoona 4, Locust Grove 3
Oconee County 8, Veterans 0
Heritage-Catoosa 4, West Laurens 0
Game 5 -- Ringgold 7, Allatoona 0
Oconee County 6, Heritage-Catoosa 4
Friday’s Games
Cross Creek 5, Locust Grove 4
West Laurens 9, Veterans 0
Heritage-Catoosa 12, Cross Creek 5
West Laurens 9, Allatoona 5
Oconee County 8, Ringgold 1
West Laurens 5, Heritage 1
Saturday’s Games
West Laurens 5, Ringgold 4
Oconee County 2, West Laurens 0
Class AAAA
Thursday’s Games
Union Grove 4, Madison County 3
Northgate 14, Paulding County 5
Whitewater 6, Loganville 2
Ola 10, NW Whitfield 1
Northgate 8, Union Grove 5
Ola 5, Whitewater 4
Friday’s Games
Madison County 4, Paulding County 1
NW Whitfield 4, Loganville 3
Whitewater 14, Madison County 1
NW Whitfield 3, Union Grove 1
Northgate 6, Ola 0
Whitewater 7, NW Whitfield 5
Saturday’s Games
Whitewater 3, Ola 1
Northgate 4, Whitewater 3, 8 innings
Class AAAAA
Thursday’s Games
North Cobb 2, Milton 1
Hillgrove 5, Mill Creek 4
Brookwood 3, Kennesaw Mountain 2
Collins Hill 9, East Coweta 1
Hillgrove 10, North Cobb 2
Collins Hill 6, Brookwood 2
Friday’s Games
Mill Creek 10, Milton 2
Kennesaw Mountain 10, East Coweta 9
Mill Creek 2, Brookwood 1
Kennesaw Mountain 3, North Cobb 1
Collins Hill 3, Hillgrove 1
Mill Creek 3, Kennesaw Mountain 1
Saturday’s Games
Mill Creek 9, Hillgrove 8, 8 innings
Collins Hill 6, Mill Creek 4
