COLUMBUS, Ga. — The road finally caught up to the Ringgold Tigers.
After winning three of four GHSA Class AAA baseball playoff series away from home, the Tigers met their match Monday as perennial power Columbus High won its 10th state championship with a 2-1, 13-6 sweep at Columbus State University.
In the Class AA finals series in Adel, meanwhile, Calhoun lost for the first time all season — 6-1 against Cook — but bounced back with a 4-3 win featuring Zach Bradley’s late-inning three-run home run. The Yellow Jackets (34-1) will face Cook (31-4) again today at 5 p.m. in the last high school sports event of the Georgia school year.
Game one at Columbus State lived up to its billing as a premier pitching duel between Ringgold’s Matthew Crownover and the Blue Devils’ Kyle Carter. They allowed 11 singles and no extra-base hits between them and faced just one difficult inning each, with Columbus (32-5) getting two runs in the fourth and the 29-11 Tigers (29-11) one in the fifth.
The Tigers (29-11) were hurt in the second game by six errors and some untimely dyhdration. Ringgold led 5-3 when starting pitcher Colton Cross had to leave the mound in the fifth inning. Columbus scored five runs that inning to turn the game around.