Three teams defend, two win program firsts at GHSA State Fast Pitch Softball State Championship

Buford (6A), Creekview (5A), Eastside (4A), Heritage-Catoosa (3A), Sonoraville (2A), Bremen (A-Division I), Lanier County (A-Division II) and Wesleyan (Private) came away with titles as the GHSA State Fast Pitch Softball State Championship closed Saturday in Columbus.

Creekview, Heritage-Catoosa and Wesleyan defended last year’s titles. Sonoraville, Bremen won the program’s first championships.

In Class 6A, Buford is a 13-time champion and was not going to let a repeat of last year’s loss to East Coweta happen again. And giving up just one run through the championship bracket helped that cause. The Wolves beat North Cobb 8-0, Brookwood 7-0, East Coweta 10-0 and East Coweta again in the championships series 16-1 to win the title.

Creekview won its third title and beat Effingham County 7-0, Veterans 12-0, South Effingham 6-2 and South Effingham 11-3 again in the Class 5A championship series to do it.

Eastside – which hadn’t won a title since back-to-back in 1998-99 -- had to go the long route to win the Class 4A title and after losing to Kell 3-2 in the final of the winner’s bracket, Eastside beat defending champion Harris County 6-5 in the losers bracket before winning 5-3 and 9-6 against Kell to secure the title.

Heritage-Catoosa secured the program’s sixth title since 2018 after beating Cherokee Bluff 2-1 in the championship series. The Generals beat Southeast Bulloch 8-4, West Laurens 3-1, Cherokee Bluff 5-0 in the winner’s bracket final before awaiting the Bears in the championship series.

Sonoraville outlasted defending champion Morgan County 6-2 to secure the team’s first-ever title. The Phoenix beat Pike County 3-2, Morgan County 8-7 and Appling County 9-0 to earn a berth in the title series. Morgan County beat Cook 6-0, Pike County 3-2 and Appling County 1-0 in the loser’s bracket to enter the title series.

Bremen secured the program’s first-ever title by beating defending champion Gordon Lee 7-1 Thru the bracket, the Blue Devils beat Banks County 4-0, Gordon Lee 8-0 and Armuchee 2-1. In the loser’s bracket, Gordon Lee defeated Dade County 4-1 and Armuchee 8-1 to advance to the title series.

Lanier County won the program’s second title (2023) after moving past defending-champion Emanuel County Institute 10-7 in the Class A-Division II title series. Lanier defeated Wheeler County 1-0, Taylor County 7-6 and Emanuel County Institute 4-0 to advance to the title series.

In the Private championship, Wesleyan won the program’s seventh title after going undefeated in the bracket. The Wolves beat Whitefield Academy 7-0, Prince Avenue Christian 4-2 and Hebron 2-0 before defeated Hebron 9-1 to win the title.

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