Omaha is a magical place in the world of college baseball. It’s somewhere you want to be at the end of the season if you are an NCAA program. For Georgia high school softball teams, the city of Columbus holds a similar status.
Every year, the top eight teams from each classification travel to the “Fountain City” to take part in the Elite Eight of Georgia high school softball. This year, from the North Fulton area, Lovett and Blessed Trinity made the glorious journey down I-85 South for the Class 2A State Tournament.
The Blessed Trinity Lady Titans have now reached the Elite Eight three times in a row, the last two under the leadership of head coach Jan Podhorez. In 2007, Podhorez’s first team at Blessed Trinity won the state title. This year, the team featured just one senior in the starting lineup but the second-year head coach would not let the team settle into a rebuilding mode.
“I wouldn’t say it (was) a rebuilding year, I would say it (was) more of discovering how good we can be even after losing several key players,” Podhorez explained. “I told them in the end-of-the-year huddle that nobody expected us to even make it to the Elite Eight. And not only did we make it there, we made it to the Final Four.”
After starting out the season with 10 losses in their first 22 games, the Lady Titans looked like they would not return to Columbus. The team turned it around in time to win nine of 12 games, however, including three straight in the Class 2A North Sectionals, to land a spot in the Elite Eight.
“They came so far. I look back at the beginning of the year and things looked very uncertain,” Podhorez said. “For us to finish with a top-four finish, it’s really a testament to how strong BT softball is in general. We really established ourselves as one of the powerhouses in softball.”
TITANS’ TOURNAMENT
After defeating Callaway, Calhoun and Greater Atlanta Christian in the sectionals, the team took on Pierce County in the first round of the Elite Eight. Lindsay Ramkellawan pitched the entire game for the Lady Titans, while Tiffany Entz doubled in three runs to lead the team to an 8-6 win.
“We were just very successful at the plate,” Podhorez said. “It was really a team effort. We just kind of threw some hits together and put eight runs on the board.”
Game 2 didn’t go as well for Blessed Trinity, as No. 2-ranked Calhoun nipped the Lady Titans by a score of 3-2. The Lady Titans entered the seventh and final inning down by one run but managed to tie the game on a dramatic Katie Hawkins home run. It was Calhoun, however, which scored the game-winning run in the first international tie-breaker inning, which allows each team to start the inning with a runner at second.
Now in the losers bracket, the Lady Titans played another game into the international tie-breaker inning, but this time won by a score of 2-1. Shortstop Moira Sullivan got the game-winning RBI with an infield hit.
Now, with only three others teams still playing, the Lady Titans had reached the Final Four for the second year in a row. The season ended, however, against Southeast Bulloch with a disappointing 1-0 loss.
LIONS ROAR
In contrast to Blessed Trinity, which won all three of the sectional games, Lovett qualified for the trip to Columbus the hard way. In the Class 2A North Sectionals, the team lost its second game to North Oconee 1-0 after defeating Pike County 2-0. The team then had to win its next three games from the losers bracket to win one of the North Sectional’s four invitations to Columbus. The Lady Lions did just that, beating Dawson County, Jefferson and GAC consecutively.
In the first round of the Elite Eight, the Lady Lions defeated Appling County 5-4. Lovett was down 2-0 early but battled back to take a 3-2 lead when sophomore Kendrick Goodman belted a three-run home run. The team went on to win in extra innings on a wild pitch. Laura Madden pitched a complete game and earned her 21st victory of the year.
No. 1 Buford, which went on to win its second State Championship in as many years, was next and proved to be too much for the Lady Lions, winning 8-0. Southeast Bulloch then eliminated Lovett 3-1.
The Lady Lions ended the season at 25-14.
“This year’s been amazing,” gushed second-year coach Mark Bagwell. “We had six freshmen and five started for us. We’re a young team and we had a good mix of kids. They all loved each other, they loved being around each other, they play hard. Next year we just want to keep building on what we’ve started.”
Black can be reached at sblack@scoreatl.com.
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