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Sidnee Beech's game-winning RBI single lifts George County to MHSAA Class 5A State Championship

The Lady Rebels erased an early deficit to beat Saltillo 2-1 and sweep the Championship series

HATTIESBURG — George County’s softball program had long coveted the state championship trophy, and it wasn’t willing to wait another day to hoist it.

The Lady Rebels erased an early 1-0 deficit, got a clutch, sixth-inning RBI single from Sidnee Beech to break a 1-1 tie and held on for the final three outs to clinch the 2023 MHSAA Class 5A Championship with a 2-1 win over Saltillo Thursday afternoon at the USM Softball Complex.

The win swept the best-of-three championship series and gave George County (28-3) its first-ever fast-pitch state championship.

“This is huge for the program and the school,” coach Kasey McCann said. “I couldn’t be prouder of this group of girls. None of this is possible without their hard work.”

After running away with a 5-1 win in Game 1 Tuesday, the Lady Rebels had a much tougher time putting the Lady Tigers (19-10) in the second game.

Saltillo starter A.K. Willingham had a lot to do with that. After the George County lineup touched her up for a couple of runs in the first game Tuesday, Willingham held George County to just three hits in the first six innings Thursday.

Saltillo struck first on offense, too. The Tigers plated a run in the top of the second inning on a Zalla McCaffrey RBI single to left field to bring home Chloe Skelton.

“I thought they beat us in the first game when A.K. didn’t have her best stuff,” Saltillo coach Lee Bose said. “But (Willingham) pitched well today, and they found a way to get us again. We just didn’t get the run support — we had a couple more opportunities than they did early, but we just couldn’t scratch anything across.”

George County tied the game in the bottom of the third, when freshman Jordyn Bradley led off with a triple and came in to score on a wild pitch with two outs.

The game-winning RBI came in the bottom of the sixth, after Natalie Jones laced a two-out double into the gap in left-center. Saltillo opted to intentionally walk Kyla Fairley to get to junior catcher Sidnee Beech.

That turned out to be a mistake — Beech laced a 1-1 pitch just past the out-stretched glove of Saltillo second baseman Lynley McCarley and into right field to bring Jones home.

“I wasn’t nervous for some reason in that situation,” Beech said. “I had some confidence and I just felt like it was my moment. When I got the pitch to hit, I put a good swing on it.”

That set the table for Peyton Collins, who relieved Lady Rebels’ starter Addison Davis for the final three outs to get the save. That wasn’t without incident either: the Lady Tigers put runners on first and second with one out before Beech caught McCarley trying to steal home on a wild pitch.

Both teams momentarily thought the game was over when Zalla McCaffrey was seemingly tagged out at second base. That led to a dog-pile in the circle for George County that only broke up after the second-base umpire called defensive interference and put McCaffrey back at second.

The final out came via the strikeout just one pitch later, and the Lady Rebels got to celebrate again — this time, for real.

“I’m just glad nobody got hurt,” McCann said. “In either of the dog piles, really.”

Davis picked up the win, allowing just the one earned run on two hits and one walk with three strikeouts and retiring 18 of the 21 batters she faced.

Collins, the eighth-grader who worked all seven innings of the Game 1 win and picked up the save Thursday, earned MVP honors for the series.