For the first time in 12 years, the GHSA fastpitch softball season has ended without a state champion from northwest Georgia.
Four area teams entered championship Saturday at the double-elimination state tournament in Columbus with title aspirations, and two finished as runners-up.
Class AAA's Sonoraville had the best shot out of the quartet as it reached the title round without a loss, but the Phoenix lost a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning needing one out to win the program's first championship as Appling County rallied for a 3-2 victory in nine innings. Appling then won the deciding game 4-1, avenging Friday's 1-0 loss to Sonoraville.
Gordon Lee, after losing in the first round Thursday, made it all the way back to the Class A public title round before running out of gas against ACE Charter.
Class AA's Dade County and Class AAAA's Heritage both finished third as each lost two consecutive games after reaching the winners bracket final.
From 2010 to 2020, area teams combined to win 22 championships.
CLASS AAA
Sonoraville (28-7), after defeating Harlem 1-0 in 10 innings in the winners bracket final Saturday morning on senior ace Taylor Long's 18-strikeout one-hitter, led Appling County (28-2) by a run with two outs and no one on in the bottom of the seventh in the title round.
However, a two-out error and a walk preceded Anna Klare Smith's game-tying double. Two innings later, Kaylee Youmans' bunt single brought home the go-ahead run for Appling. Sonoraville had runners at first and third with one out in the bottom half, but Appling pitcher Presley Harrison recorded a strikeout and forced a popup to end the game.
Harrison proved even more damaging in the winner-take-all game, pitching a four-hitter while going 3-for-3 at the plate, her third hit a three-run homer in the seventh that proved to be the difference.
Long, who is headed to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, went all 48 innings for Sonoraville at the tournament in Columbus, allowing just three earned runs and 11 hits while striking out 80 batters.
CLASS A PUBLIC
Gordon Lee won four consecutive games after losing its opener to Emanuel County Institute on Thursday, but the Chickamauga program with a GHSA-record 11 titles didn't have enough to get past undefeated ACE Charter in a 7-0 loss in the title round.
The Lady Trojans (32-3) defeated Social Circle 10-5 Saturday morning as Anniston Hudson had a three-run homer and Emma Langston had two hits and drove in three runs while also earning the pitching win with 4 2/3 innings of one-run relief. They then got revenge on ECI with a 5-1 win in the losers bracket final as Langston pitched a two-hitter and Ella Grace Hixon had two hits and drove in two runs to send Gordon Lee to its 16th consecutive title round.
A seven-run second inning, however, proved too much to overcome against powerful ACE Charter (31-0). Dixiana Sims pitched a three-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts, and she also had a two-run single in the big second frame. Gracie McDade and Lizzy Mitchell had two-run homers in the inning.
Gordon Lee had won seven straight state titles, including all five in Class A public since the classification began.
CLASS AAAA
Region 7-AAAA rivals went at it in the winners bracket final, and for the third time in four games, Central-Carroll prevailed in an 8-7 win to send the Generals to the losers bracket final. Heritage trailed 8-4 entering the seventh inning, but an RBI double from Madeline Stone and a two-run single from Harper Carstens made it a one-run game before Central ace Karley Fuller escaped further trouble to end the game.
Heritage had a similar fate in the next game, trailing North Oconee 6-1 after six innings before a strong rally fell short. Zoe Wright and Lexi Duckett had RBI singles in the seventh, and two more runs scored on Riley KoKinda's groundout, one by error, to cut the lead to one. North Oconee's Maddie Johnson, though, got a strikeout to end the game and Heritage's season at 23-5.
Central-Carroll went undefeated to win the championship. Heritage had won the past three.
CLASS AA
Dade County's season ended at 29-4-1 after losing 10-1 to Heard County in the winners bracket final and 8-4 to Vidalia in the losers bracket final. Heard County went on to defeat Vidalia for the championship.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.