Senior Isabella Chastain tossed a gem as the Gilmer High Lady Cats won their first-ever fastpitch softball region championship.
Chastain struck out all but three batters last Tuesday as she fanned 18. GHS wrapped up the regular season with a 3-1 victory over Dawson County to finish with a 17-1 record against region foes.
“We were very excited to win region,” head coach Amanda Mullis said. “It was kind of awkward because it was an expectation we had. We caught on early in the season that we could do it. So if we had not won, I think we would have been very disappointed. Even though we knew we had it wrapped up before the game, it took that last game for it to sink in.”
GHS has relied on reserve players for much of the season. They faced Dawson without four starters for various reasons.
Chastain continued her dominant season by striking out 18 Tigers while limiting them to three hits. She missed the previous two weeks.
“That was huge for her and she needed that after being out so much,” Mullis said. “I couldn’t have asked for more, especially at the time because we were down so many players (because of quarantine and injury). I was proud and hope she can keep that momentum going.”
The Cats struck in the bottom of the first with some savvy base running from sophomore Maddie Wright. She walked with one out and advanced to second base when Macy Hamby was hit by a pitch.
On a throw from the catcher back to the pitcher, Wright stole third. After Chastain drew a walk to load the bases, Wright replicated her earlier move and stole home on a throw back to the pitcher to give GHS a 1-0 lead.
“Aggressive base running is what we’re going to have to do and we’re going to have to be smart from here on out,” Mullis said. “The next few teams are going to be more aware. I don’t know if we’re going to be able to pull that off much more.”
Tori Hughes reached on an error with two outs to plate Gilmer’s second run.
Hamby hit a one-out double in the third but GHS could not take advantage. In the fifth, Wright used her bat to drive in Sarah Stallings with a triple.
The Tigers scored their lone run in the seventh off a pair of two-out hits.
Chastain kept Dawson off balance all day. In the third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings, she struck out the side. In the first, second and fifth, she recorded two strikeouts in each inning and the Tigers hit measly grounders for the remaining outs.
GHS is 19-4 overall. The Cats will host the loser of Thursday’s game between Ringgold and Rockmart to kick off the Class 3A state tournament next Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Each round of state will be a best-of-three series. GHS will host a doubleheader Oct. 20 with game one set for 4 p.m. Game three will be played the following day if needed.
The Lady Cats will have had over two weeks off when they host the opening round game.
“The time off doesn’t concern me and honestly we needed it,” Mullis said. “We’ve had so many who have been hurt. With the change in weather we have some tired arms hurting so we took the rest of the week off. Monday we’ll go back to the fundamentals of the game. We are going to hit a lot and get in some live pitching and figure out Plan B if our starters aren’t back.”