Lady Blue Devils land first softball state championship
May 14—STARKVILLE — Booneville needed just one shot to reach the pinnacle of Class 3A softball in the state of Mississippi.
In their first title series appearance, the Lady Blue Devils finished off the sweep a 6-1 win over Raleigh on Thursday to claim the first state championship in program history.
"It means the world to every single one of us," said sophomore pitcher Hallie Burns. "It's our first one. Oh gosh, there's nothing like it. There's no better feeling."
Burns pitched 13 2/3 scoreless innings to help lead Booneville (29-4) to the title, and it was certainly needed in Wednesday's 1-0 win. But in Game 2, Burns received a huge boost out of the gates when eighth grader Olivia Garrett launched a three-run home run in the first inning.
Garrett was 4 for 4 with four RBIs in the game. The young slugger hit five homers on the season—four coming over the last three weeks of the playoffs.
"I knew that Hallie had been doing a great job. But I felt like as a team, our job was to give her some room and let her focus on her pitching," said Garrett. "That feeling was a little bit of a relief, and got the timid and scared out of us."
Raleigh (21-8) threatened several times with two on and no outs in the second and fifth inning but Burns picked up four of her seven strikeouts in those moments to shut the door.
"She's worked day in and day out for this. She deserves every bit of this," Booneville head coach Jessica Taylor said of her ace.
After Garrett's big fly in the first, Raleigh's ace Holly Craft rolled through the Booneville lineup, allowing just one base runner on an error until the sixth, where the Lady Blue Devils doubled their lead with a RBI double from Burns and a pair of RBI singles from Garrett and Hannah Davis.
Craft finished with 13 strikeouts but gave up 10 hits—six coming in the sixth inning.
Extra Bases
Big Inning: Booneville tacked on three runs with six hits in the top of the sixth to seal the win.
Big Stat: Burns allowed one unearned run on seven hits, one walk and seven strikeouts.
Coach Speak: "We're losing a great senior group but I am confident you'll be seeing us again next year, and down the road. We like the feeling too much." — Taylor.
