Their opponent had not allowed a single run in the state playoffs.

Eagle’s Landing Christian changed that quickly, beating Gordon Lee 5-0 in the Class A State Softball Tournament semifinals. After Gordon Lee battled back into the finals from the losers’ bracket, ELCA did it again. The Lady Chargers defeated the Lady Trojans 6-0 to capture the school’s fourth consecutive state title.

“The girls were just determined to go out there and hit the ball,” ELCA head coach Lacy McClendon said. “I was a little surprised with my seven-eight-nine in the lineup coming up with four RBIs in those two games combined ... That’s not usually something you see out of the bottom of your lineup, but they did a great job on top of what the top of my lineup usually does in a game.”

Leading up to the first game with ELCA, the Trojans had not allowed a single run in the state playoffs. They allowed just 16 runs in 21 regular-season games. The Lady Chargers tagged them for 11 runs in just two games. For ELCA, the dominant pitching at Gordon Lee was nothing they hadn’t seen before.

“We were just used to seeing that quality of pitching coming at us,” McClendon said. “So it wasn’t something that was a surprise to us when we got up there to hit against Gordon Lee.”

ELCA has faced their share of tough competition, including Class AAAA state champion Marist. But perhaps the best pitching they have seen all season has been in practice.

It was the pitching tandem of sophomore Michel Bell and freshman Megan Betsa who pushed the Lady Chargers over the top for the state title. Bell earned a 9-1 win over Schley County and Betsa earned three straight wins, including two consecutive shutouts over Gordon Lee, to capture the crown.

“They played great. We just took it one game at a time,” McClendon said. “Our goal was to get to (the state championship) game, but we had to take care of who was in front of us first. Our girls just stayed focused and did really well.”