All-Star girls end season with 24-0 record

They started off Friday’s games against Bacon County. Bacon was ready to play scoring 3-0 in the first inning. Dodge came back to tie the game and with no outs and a runner on third base, Kristen Nobles hit to bring home the go-head-run. In the next inning Olivia Cranford made a great play to throw out the runner going to second from right center. Dodge won the game 7- 4.

The girls had about a two hour down time before they had to take on our neighbors from Telfair County. Dodge made some amazing plays with two double plays. Sara Lann hit a single to score a run and Abbey Michelle Manning fielded the ball from left field to throw out the runner at third base to end the inning. Dodge would end the day winning 13-0, and headed back to their rooms for a night of swimming, pizza, and rest to go back Saturday to play for the state championship.

Dodge arrived to the field to watch the game between Telfair and Berrien County to see who they would face. While Dodge rooted on Telfair to win, they unfortunately fell to Berrien County. Now, Berrien County was the only thing standing between Dodge and the state championship. The girls were ready to play. In the first inning, Abby Christian “Wild Thing” Manning hit a two run homer. With bases loaded and no outs, Meredith “Boo” Hutcheson hit a three run triple. Then Jessie Thomas hit a single to bring Meredith home and the inning stood at 6-0 after the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the first, Sierarose White fielded a ball clearly in left center to throw out the Berrien County player as she attempted to make it to third. Then Berrien hit the ball well to load the bases and Dodge County set down the next two with great defense led by Allie Varnadoe.

In the second inning, Dodge came out again and put two more runs on the board but gave up one run to Berrien. In the third, Dodge failed to score. When Berrien came to bat, Julianna “Ju-Ju” Bellflower made a sliding catch at first base and doubled up the advancing runner for our only double play of the day. With a triple from Meredith to clear the bases and a close throw, Sara Moore slid into home to score. Dodge wins the state tournament with a score of 13-1. Batting averages were as follows:

Abby Christian Manning .928;
Allie Varnadoe .928
Meredith Hutcheson .923
Julianna Bellflower .629
Sierarose White .583
Abbey Michelle Manning .571
Kaitlynn Rogers .533
Olivia Cranford .400
Sara Moore .400
Jessie Thomas .384
Kristen Nobles .375
Sara Lann .300

Along with these great numbers, the girls had a total of 375 runs for the season giving up only 106 runs. Out of 57 runs in the state tournament, the girls only gave up six.

State Champions from Chuck Eckles on Vimeo.