Junior Maggie Jenkins hit a three-run homer with one out in the top of the seventh inning to lead Richmond Hill to an 8-6 victory over West Laurens in the championship game of the GHSA all-classification slow-pitch softball tournament Thursday at the Twin Creeks Softball Complex in Woodstock.
This was the Wildcats’ first championship in a sport that has fallen to just 22 teams in Georgia, putting its future in jeopardy. The sectional round typically played after the regular season was eliminated this year, and the field for the double-elimination state tournament grew to 16 teams from its usual eight.
“It was kind of up in the air if we were going to start slow-pitch because the interest is dwindling,” Richmond Hill coach Tiffany Gray said. “I know our athletic directors were all on board. They just told me that they don’t know how many years we’re going to get to go at it. But we just felt like while we can, we want to take advantage of it. Our school has been super, super supportive.”
The top-seed Wildcats went 5-0 in the tournament, but the championship game was not their first close call, as they won three games by two runs or less. Richmond Hill survived a 1-0 game against Elbert County in the second round Wednesday afternoon and rallied to defeat Sequoyah 6-5 in the winners backet final earlier Thursday.
“We sometimes struggle with the pitching styles because the competition that we see during the regular season is not quite what we’re seeing here,” Gray said. “It’s definitely a learning curve, and that’s why you can see our bats kinda getting hot in the third inning. Everybody’s been through the lineup, everybody’s gotten to see it … just hit the ball and get into that streak.”
Richmond Hill had taken its first lead of the game in the sixth inning when an RBI double by Aubrey Villella and a run-scoring single by Aryianna Bigford in consecutive at-bats put the Wildcats in front 5-4. West Laurens reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the inning when Peyton Crabb and Allie Sahli drove in runs with back-to-back hits. The Raiders led 4-1 after two innings.
Aubrey Ragins went 3-for-4 with a double and two singles and scored three runs for Richmond Hill. Gessilyn Clark, Lily Welch, Ainsley Washington, Villella and Bigford had two hits each.
West Laurens was led by Audrey Lord, who was 3-for-4, and Sahli went 2-for-3.
The Raiders, state champions in 2023, found themselves facing a long day after losing to Sequoyah 10-3 in the winners backet semifinals. They responded with victories over Elbert County (12-2), Jefferson (17-3) and Sequoyah (7-5) to reach the championship game. In all, West Laurens played five games in an eight-hour stretch Thursday. The Raiders went 5-2 in the two-day tournament. Sequoyah, seeking its first state title, finished in third place, and Jefferson took fourth.
Click here to see complete scores from the tournament.
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