Heritage joins elite company with 3rd state fastpitch crown in a row
Many teams have won state fastpitch softball championships since the GHSA first sanctioned the sport back in 1994 and several teams have won back-to-back titles. But three in a row?
It’s pretty rarefied air, but the Heritage Generals moved into that high-rent district by winning three straight games in Columbus on Saturday, including back-to-back victories late Saturday afternoon against Region 7-AAAA rival Central-carroll.
With the title, Heritage becomes just the eighth program in GHSA history to win at least three consecutive state fastpitch softball titles, joining Buford, Calhoun, Collins Hill, ELCA, Gordon Lee, Locust Grove and Oconee County.
“The goal every single year is to get to this day and have a chance to win it on this day,” said head coach Tanner Moore. “You just have to give yourself a fighting chance and we did that. We made it an uphill climb at times,
but we just had to take it one pitch at a time and one out at a time.
“I think having the experience helps because it gives you a mental edge that sets yourself apart when you’ve done something...i think once we get the momentum, our girls just play a little bit differently and they don’t ever
give it back.”
Heritage 7, West Laurens 3
The Generals earned a spot in the championship game with a victory early Saturday afternoon in the elimination bracket.
Heritage got three strikeouts in two innings of work from Rachel Gibson, who turned things over to freshman Kelsey Anderson. Anderson pitched five strong innings of relief, allowing three earned runs on four hits with a walk and three strikeouts. All three runs by West Laurens came on two
homeruns.
Madeline Stone had an Rbi-single in the first inning and the Navy-and-red would score four times in the third on two hits and two West Laurens errors. Gibson helped herself by driving in a run with a groundout and Lexi Duckett picked up an Rbi-double.
Heritage would plate another run on an error in the sixth inning and Stone came through with another RBIsingle in the seventh. The Generals had seven hits in the game, while the Lady Raiders hurt themselves with six errors.
Carmen Gayler had three hits, including a double, and she scored twice in the victory. Stone went 2 for 4 and Sarah Haynes also was credited with an RBI.
Heritage 3, Central 2
After losing to Central in eight innings late Friday night in the winners’ bracket final, the Generals overcame three errors and an early 2-0 deficit to hand the Lady Lions their first loss in Columbus and force a winner-take-all game for the state championship.
Back-to-back errors by Heritage allowed Central to score twice with two outs in the top of the first inning. However, the Generals would get one run back in the bot
tom of the inning.
Heritage used a single, an error and a walk to load the bases for Gibson, who drew a free pass with the bases loaded to bring in her team’s first run.
One inning later, Duckett and Bailey Christol singled and Gayler came through with a two-out, two-run hit to give Heritage the lead.
It would turn out to be the final two runs of the game.
Gibson struck out nine batters in seven innings and allowed just one hit to get the win. Christol had three of the Generals’ six hits and scored twice.
Heritage 4, Central 0
Facing one final showdown, the Generals finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning on an Rbi-single by Haynes, but it would be a three-run sixth inning that salted the game away.
The inning began with a pair of Central errors and a passed ball, all of which set the table for Savannah Wilson, who came through with an Rbi-single.
Three batters later, the third error of the inning allowed the third run of the game to score and Zoe Wright drove in a run with a groundout to cap the scoring.
It would be more than enough run support for Gibson, although Central tried to make things interesting in the top of the seventh. They would get two runners in scoring position with two outs, but the future Clemson Tiger sent one final riseball past a swinging Central hitter for her 10th strikeout of the game and the final strikeout of her illustrious prep career. She would scatter five hits and did not allow a walk to get the win.
Six different players accounted for the six hits by the Generals, including a double by Stone.
“We talked about (having to win three in a row) last night,” Moore explained. “They were a little defeated (Friday night). I could tell. Anytime you lose a game like that, it’s going to be deflating. But we talked about it and just said, look, it’s nothing. It’s just one game. We’re still in it and that’s all that matters.”
Moore also gave credit to the Lady Lions and said playing tough competition like them in the regular season got his team prepared for the challenges that awaited in the post-season.
“They do an incredible job and run a first-class program,” he said. “Our region is just unbelievable and it gets us ready for the state playoffs every single year. It’s deeper than any other region we have in our classification. It’s like the saying, ‘iron sharpens iron’. That’s kind of what our
region does and it’s just cool to see. When you play great competition, it gets you ready for post-season ball.”
Heritage 16, West Laurens 5
Heritage rallied from 4-0 down to force extra innings before scoring an amazing 12 times in the top of the 10th inning to finally put away the Lady Raiders in their Columbus opener on Friday.
An RBI by Gayler in the top of the fifth cut West Laurens’ lead to 4-1 and the Generals would find a way to scratch out three runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game.
Christol led off the seventh with a double and Wright reached on an error before Stone came through with an RBI. Haynes followed with an Rbi-single and Gracie Dawson picked up the game-tying RBI moments later.
Heritage would leave two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth innings, but freshman relief pitcher Kelsey Anderson kept her team in the game by shutting down the Lady Raiders in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings and the game would go to the 10th tied up, 4-4.
Starting the inning with Duckett on second base as part of the international tiebreaker, Wright drew a walk before Gayler came through with a two-rbi hit. Stone then collected an RBI to make it 7-4.
They would go on to score nine more times before West Laurens could finally get out of the inning. Dawson, Duckett, Christol and Wright all picked up solo RBIS. Harper Carstens had a big two-run triple and Gayler belted her seventh homer of the year, a two-run shot, while Stone followed up with a solo homer to complete the scoring.
West Laurens would get one in the bottom of the 10th, but it would be way too little, way too late as Heritage picked up the victory.
Central 2, Heritage 1
Stone would deliver an RBIsingle in the top of the first inning of Friday night’s winners’ bracket final and the score would remain 1-0 until the bottom of the sixth. But the Lady Lions would load the bases for Ava Tyson, who came through with a sacrifice fly to tie things up.
The game would eventually go into the eighth inning. The Generals failed to score in top half of the frame, giving the Central a chance to win it.
The first two batters were retired, but a walk and a single got the rally started and an error would allow the winning run to scamper home.
Gayler had a double and was one of six different Heritage players with one hit. Gibson gave up three hits and two walks in 7.2 innings of work. She did not allow an earned run and finished with
17 strikeouts.
Heritage 1, Bainbridge 0
Gibson would square off with future Florida Gator Lexi Delbrey in a big-time pitcher’s duel in the third-round opener in south Georgia last Wednesday.
The only run of the game came in the Generals’ first atbat. Christol led off the game with a double before moving to third on a sacrifice bunt by Wright. Then, after Gayler drew a walk and moved to second on a wild pitch, Christol was thrown out trying to swipe home. However, Stone would come through with an Rbi-triple to right to bring in Gayler with what turned out to be the only score of the game.
Bainbridge’s third and final hit of the game was a leadoff double by Haylee Nix in the bottom of the seventh. Gibson would get a strikeout and a come-backer to the mound, but a wild pitch would move Nix to third as the Bearcats looked for the game-tying hit.
However, Gibson would strike out the final batter looking to complete the three-hit shutout. She finished with 13 strikeouts and just three walks in the game, while Delbrey scattered six hits and three walks with nine strikeouts in seven innings of work. Gayler was 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles. Stone also had two hits
and Wright added a single.
Heritage 7, Bainbridge 0
Needing one more victory to secure a spot in Columbus, Gibson asked for the ball again in the nightcap and fired a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts to send her team to the Final Four.
An Rbi-single by Wright with two outs in the bottom of the second got the Generals on the board first, but Heritage would break the game open in the fourth and fifth innings.
Dawson, who had three hits in Game 2, led off the fourth with a bunt single and scored on a triple by Duckett. Duckett came home on another runscoring single by Wright and Gayler would follow up with an Rbi-double to make it 4-0.
An inning later, after a pair of singles, Bailey Davis scored on a groundout off the bat of Avah Morrison and Dawson motored home later on a Bainbridge error. Following a second Bearcat error, Wright delivered her third Rbi-single of the game the cap the scoring.
Haynes had two hits as Heritage finished with 11 in the game. The Generals also played a second straight error-free contest in the field.