CALHOUN, Ga. – If there were any thoughts of complacency or overconfidence surrounding the Calhoun High School softball team as it goes for a fourth consecutive state championship, they were erased Wednesday night.
The Lady Yellow Jackets captured the Region 6-AAA championship with a highlight-show hitting display in sweeping rival Ringgold, 11-3 and 16-7. Top-ranked Calhoun, which will host a GHSA first-round, best-of-three playoff series Wednesday against the Region 8 No. 4 team, improved to 31-1 on the season and has now won 23 consecutive games.
Ringgold (16-12) will host the Region 8 No. 3 seed Wednesday.
“We just hit the ball tonight,” Calhoun coach Diane Smith said. “It’s tough competition in our region, and usually it’s going to come down between us and Ringgold.”
Smith’s collection of elite seniors made sure even the team’s most bitter rivals couldn’t derail the Calhoun express. Third baseman Jana Johns hit three home runs among her five hits and drove in seven runs, while second baseman Ashlyn Barnes had five hits and four RBIs and outfielder Ryan Brzozoski five hits and five RBIs.
“Having six seniors start for me makes a big difference,” Smith said. “This is their fourth year experiencing this and nothing rattles them. They are showing leadership with their play and the other girls follow. We want this (fourth) championship for them.
“We don’t take anything for granted. It’s a joy to stand over at third and watch all this.”
A seven-run first inning in game one set the tone for a sweep that included 25 Calhoun hits, nine for extra bases. Johns, who has committed to South Carolina, helped get things going with a two-run homer as the Jackets sent 11 batters to the plate.
Calhoun sophomore pitcher Torri Gaddis, also aided by Cassie Henderson’s third-inning homer, cruised to the five-inning win, allowing three hits. Kaylee Womack’s three-run double in the fifth spoiled the shutout, but Gaddis made sure the game didn’t go any further by getting a weak groundout.
Calhoun, the visitors in game two, again used a Johns two-run homer in the first to break out quickly. However, the Lady Tigers used a key throwing error in the third inning to tie the game. The Jackets answered quickly with six runs in the fourth, with Brozozski and Alaina Reece getting two-run doubles.
Ringgold would score twice in the bottom half and three more times in the fifth to extend the game, but Calhoun’s powerful offense never let up. Johns hit her second two-run homer of the game in the fifth, while senior Allie Jones led off the sixth with a homer and Barnes ended it with a two-run triple.
“When we scored that many runs you can afford to let them get a few,” Smith said. “We haven’t had that many scored on us all season and the girls weren’t happy with that. Ringgold, though, is a good-hitting team and we are going to see more of that as we go on.”
– In the Region 6-AAA third-place series, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe and Sonoraville split, with the Lady Warriors winning game one, 8-0, and Sonoraville claiming game two, 2-1. The deciding game three will be played today at LFO.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.