Lumpkin County entered the softball league championship as the undefeated No. 1 seed.
And they left with the second place trophy when the Clear Creek Lady Cats skunked them in five innings, 9-0.
CCMS head coach Tina McDaniel noted Lumpkin’s entire starting lineup was comprised of eighth graders with a deep bench of reserves.
“We knew we had our work cut out for us,” McDaniel said. “Lumpkin was undefeated all season going into the championship game. They had beaten us 2-1 and 3-2 in the regular season. We told the girls there was no pressure on us, and all pressure was all on them.”
The Cats belted 14 hits in the championship while limiting the Indians to one.
“We put together our best game of the season in every aspect of the game — hitting, fielding, base running and pitching. We saved our best for last, and we seemed unstoppable winning with a shutout. We do think it was important that we jumped out early and limited our mistakes.”
Clear Creek opened up the scoring in the first inning. Neeyah McDaniel grounded out, and the Cats’ first run raced home. The Cats blew the game wide open with their six-run third inning.
Abby Murillo and Mattie Jones both singled, which plated two runs. Maylee Bramlett collected three hits on the day, and her bases loaded triple brought three more Cats home.
Lady Cat Braley Stewart wrapped up her CCMS career with another dominant pitching showcase. She struck out nine Indians and walked one, and Lumpkin’s singular hit was hardly enough to cause concern.
Stewart, Murillo, Kali McCardle and Jessie Wheeler all had two hits, while McDaniel, Lily Teague and Jones had one apiece. In addition to Bramlett, McDaniel, Jones and Murillo, McCardle and Wheeler each drove in one run.
The third time was the charm for CCMS against Lumpkin as all the Cats’ aspirations came to fruition. The championship victory improved the Cats’ record to 10-3 and marked their second league title in three seasons.
“We had goals this season, and our first goal was to make the playoffs at any seeding,” McDaniel said. “No. 2, we wanted to be playing our best ball heading in to the playoffs and win the championship.”