Kelly Barnhill pitched a no-hitter and Hannah Rogers went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs, leading Pope to a 4-0 victory over Hillgrove to win the Class AAAAAA softball championship in an all-Cobb County final Saturday at the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus.
Barnhill, who has committed to Florida, struck out 16 batters in pitching her 20th career no-hitter. She finished the tournament with 70 strikeouts in four games and did not allow a run after beating Harrison 6-2 in the first round.
The championship was the first for Pope (32-8), which reached the Class AAAAA final in 2012 before losing to Union Grove.
“We remember 2012, and it wasn’t a fun day,” Pope coach Chris Turco said. “We talked about it briefly and said we wanted to get this done in one game. That was our goal to not have to go to Game 2, and Kelly came out and threw one of the best games of her career, fittingly a no-hitter in the championship game.”
Rogers’ two-out double drove in Samantha Crabtree with the first run in the bottom of the first, and the Greyhounds added two runs in the second when Caelyn Dougherty and Lindsey Monkiewicz walked and came around to score on a throwing error. Rogers drove in the final run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly.
Hillgrove pitcher Abby Evans, a Florida State commitment, took the loss for the Hawks, who had the best finish in school history. She struck out seven and gave up two earned runs.
Hillgrove beat Lassiter 11-2 earlier in the day in the losers’ bracket final, giving Cobb County the top three teams in the event.
Class AAAAA
Greenbrier scored nine runs with two outs in the sixth inning to beat Cambridge 10-4. Jordie Holt had two hits and scored two runs in the inning. It was Greenbrier’s second state title and first since 2004. The teams met three times in the tournament, with Greenbrier winning 11-7 on Friday and Cambridge winning 11-6 on Saturday to force the deciding game.
Class AAAA
Buford won a record eighth consecutive state title with a 9-1 victory against Thomas County Central. Baylee Sexton had three hits and Sydney Stavro and Breanna Gutierrez scored two runs each. Buford finished 37-1 and won its final 28 games since its only loss of the season, 5-0 against Gordon Lee on Aug. 23.
Class AAA
Calhoun (34-8) won its second consecutive state title, beating Region 6-AAA rival Ringgold 12-7 in the if-necessary game after Ringgold had beaten the Yellow Jackets earlier in the day. Madison Green scored three runs and Jana Johns homered in a four-run fourth inning that helped Calhoun pull away.
Class AA
Cali Harrod hit a home run and scored three times to lead Heard County (27-9-1) to a 6-2 victory against Gordon Lee, giving the Braves their first state title in school history. Gordon Lee won the previous four state championships in Class A before moving to AA this season.
Class A public
Georgia Military (29-5) broke open a close game with a four-run fourth inning and went on to beat Wilcox County 11-2 to capture its first state title. Whitley Dunn hit a home run in the Bulldogs’ five-run fifth inning that ended the game by the run rule.
Class A private
Casey Durham had five hits and Brooke Echols had three hits and five RBIs to lead Eagle’s Landing Christian to a 14-7 victory over Prince Avenue Christian. The win gave ELCA (29-7) its second consecutive and sixth overall title.
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