Northwest Georgia reigns in Columbus once again
Gordon Lee earns record-setting 11th GHSA fastpitch state title
The Gordon Lee Lady Trojans rarely, if ever, find themselves in the middle of an offensive slugfest, but that’s exactly where they found themselves Friday night before pulling out a 12-9, eight-inning victory over Commerce in the winners’ bracket final.
But rather than try to just put it behind them, Gordon Lee used it as an opportunity to learn.
And when they faced those same Lady Tigers in a rematch for the Class A Public School state championship on Saturday afternoon, the Lady Trojans were more than prepared as they methodically wore down their opponents for an 8-2 victory in Columbus.
The win gave Gordon Lee six consecutive state titles and 10 state titles in the past
11 seasons. Add on its first state championship back in 2004 and Gordon Lee’s 11th all-time fastpitch state crown set a new GHSA record, breaking a tie with Buford for the most fastpitch
state titles in state history.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Dana Mull, the 18-year veteran head coach whose teams have played in the championship game of its classification in each of the last 15 seasons.
“It’s just a tribute to all the great teams I’ve been able to be a part of, but they’re all just as special as the others. It is pretty awesome to see 11 state championships.”
Gordon Lee took advan
tage of a pair of Commerce errors in the top of the first inning to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Emma Minghini had an Rbi-single while the other run scored on one of the errors.
Then in the top of the second, two singles and a walk loaded the bases with one out. Minghini drove in another run with a groundout before Allie Farrow laced a two-run single, increasing the GL lead to 5-0.
Back-to-back doubles by Ashlyn Schmidt and Minghini in the top of the fourth put another run on the board and Anniston Hudson would make it 7-0 with a solo homer to lead off the fifth inning.
The Lady Tigers got on the board with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth, but Farrow accounted for the final run of the season for the Lady Trojans with a one-out solo shot in the top of the sixth.
Emma Langston had three of Gordon Lee’s 15 hits in the game. Minghini and Farrow each finished with two hits and three RBIS. Sturdivant,
Schmidt, Hudson and Jordan Dyer each finished with two hits.
Minghini pitched seven strong innings in her final career start for the Lady Trojans. The future Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket allowed just two earned runs on two hits with three walks and five strikeouts.
“I think we were focused a little bit more (Saturday), not that we weren’t focused (Friday night),” Mull explained. “But we knew we had to come ready to go (on Saturday). I think everybody was just mentally ready to go. We made some changes on how we were pitching them because we had plenty of notes on each batter after that long game (Friday) night, so we were able to take the time and change some of how we were pitching them and we made some defensive adjustments. Plus, Emma threw really, really well.”
Gordon Lee ended its season with a 34-3 record, having won its final 25 games in a row. The Lady Trojans’ only losses this year came to Woodland of Cartersville (6-2), who made the Elite Eight in Class AAAAA, and Northwest Whitfield (1-0), a playoff participant in Class AAAA. Both losses came in the first week of the season back in mid-august, while a 3-2 setback against eventual Class AA champion Heard County happened in a tournament game in
Carrollton on Sept. 11.
“This team worked really, really hard and improved so much over the course of a year and have really come together,” Mull added. “Looking from the first game to the last, we definitely got a lot better and we’ve come a long way this year.”
Gordon Lee 12, Commerce 9
The winners’ bracket final on Friday night was a wild affair that saw Gordon Lee trail, 2-1, before scoring three runs in the top of the fourth, the last coming on an Rbi-double by Dyer.
The Lady Tigers answered with two in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the bottom of the fifth, but Dyer would launch a solo homer in the top of the sixth, cutting the deficit back down to one.
After getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the sixth, the Lady Trojans came to the plate in the top of the seventh needing one run to tie up the ball game and it came from an unlikely source of power as Schmidt, the senior shortstop, stunned Commerce with a leadoff homerun to centerfield on an 0-2 pitch, knotting the score at 6-6. It was Schmidt’s first round-tripper of the season.
The next three batters for Gordon Lee would reach base. Hudson and Ryleigh Ledford both scored on the same passed ball and Sidney Gasaway would bring in a run on a groundout to give the Lady Trojans a 9-6 lead.
But the Lady Tigers would use an error and a single to put two runners on base. Then, with two outs and facing a 2-2 pitch, Anna Taylor stunned Gordon Lee with a threerun homer to left to tie the game once again.
Commerce would follow up with a double and a single to put the winning run at third, but Minghini, on in a relief role, got the final strikeout to send the game to an extra inning.
Emma Phillips drew a walk to start the eighth and, following a strikeout, Phillips would beat out a throw to second on a bunt by Schmidt to put runners on base for Minghini, who came through with a single to drive in both runs. Moments later, Hudson, into the game to run for Minghini, scored on an Rbi-single by Farrow to put Gordon Lee back in front by three.
This time, however, the lead would hold up as Minghini got a flyball out in between strikeouts to finally finish off the shootout.
Minghini went 3 for 3 with a pair of RBIS at the plate, while Schmidt, Farrow, Langston and Dyer had two hits each. Dyer had a pair of RBIS with Schmidt, Farrow, Langston and Gasaway all driving in one run.
Langston started in the circle and pitched 3.2 innings, allowing four earned runs on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts, but was replaced in the fourth inning by Minghini, who pitched 4.1 innings of relief. She gave up nine hits, but fanned eight and did not allow a walk, while just two of the runs she
allowed were earned.
Gordon Lee 14, ECI 3
The Lady Trojans needed less than four innings to put away Region 3 runner-up Emanuel County Institute in the opener in Columbus on Friday.
Gordon Lee got five runs in the first inning. Gasaway had an RBIdouble, while Farrow and Phillips both delivered Rbi-singles.
ECI would answer in the top of the second with three runs, but Gordon Lee would drop the hammer in the bottom of the third as the first nine Lady Trojans reached base and eight runs scored by the time the dust had settled. Langston had a two-run triple in the inning and Sturdivant added a two-run double. Farrow, Phillips and Gasaway were each credited with an RBI before the inning came to a close.
They would tack on one final run in the bottom of the fourth as Dyer doubled and scored on an ECI error.
Sturdivant, Farrow, Dyer and Minghini each had two hits in the game. Sturdivant finished with three RBIS, while Farrow, Langston, Gasaway and Phillips had two RBIS each.
Minghini pitched all five innings in the run-rule game. She gave up four hits and a pair of walks to go with three strikeouts. All three runs she allowed were earned.
Gordon Lee 6, Wilcox County 0
The Lady Trojans’ third-round opener back at home last Tuesday
saw them surrender just one hit. Farrow put Gordon Lee in front with a two-run single in the first, before Minghini would score on an error later in the inning.
A second error by the Lady Patriots would allow Phillips to score in the bottom of the fifth and Minghini would come through with an Rbi-single later in the frame to plate Sturdivant. Phillips would drive in the final run of the game in the bottom of the sixth with an Rbi-triple.
Minghini struck out 13 batters without issuing a walk. She joined Phillips with two hits in the game, while Ava Brown scored once in the victory.
Gordon Lee 16, Wilcox County 0
The Lady Trojans got an RBIdouble from Langston in the top of the first inning, but they blew the game open with seven runs in the second inning and eight more in the third as 13 batters came to the plate in the final frame. Sturdivant capped the scoring with a two-run single.
Langston finished things off in the bottom of the third. She walked one batter and struck out four without issuing a hit as the game ended via the run rule.
Sturdivant had three hits, scored twice and drove in two runs. Minghini had two hits, scored twice and picked up two RBIS, while Schmidt, Gasaway, Dyer, and Allie and Madison Farrow each had one RBI.