The 2011-12 Lafayette Lady Hornets claim the Region 3 - Class 1A Girls Softball Championship by defeating the Bell High School Lady Bulldogs 11-0 in five innings on May 1 in Mayo.

It was a 30 year wait for Lafayette High School to win its second FHSAA State Championship when the Lady Hornets claimed the girls volleyball title back in November. The previous state championship came back in 1991 when the Hornet’s football team won it all. Now the Lady Hornet softball team has positioned itself to have a shot at a third school title in less than 30 weeks from the second.  

The Region 3 – Class 1A championship game played Tuesday night in Mayo matched up the Bell Lady Bulldogs against the Lady Hornets and with the 11-0 victory gives the Hornets the right to go stake a claim for another ring. This is significant since eight of the members of the current softball team are owners of championship rings from the November title game in volleyball. The championship game was scoreless for the first two innings and then in the 3rd, sophomore Lydia Land hit double that scored 8th grader Lacey Swafford and that run would ultimately be all the Hornets would need on the night, but the scoring didn’t stop. Two more runs crossed the plate in the 3rd and the five strike-out, one hitter pitched by junior Lindsay O’Steen proved to be all that was needed to ensure a trip to the National Training Center in Clermont, Fla. for the FHSAA State Finals. The four run, 4th inning all but solidified the game and seemed to take any hope the Bulldogs had to answer the offensive power of the Hornets.

What the game will be remembered for is the two out, three run home run by senior Stacy McClelland in the bottom of the 5th inning that closed out the game due to the 10 run rule and the senior’s career on the home field clay.

The Lady Hornets play the Union County Tigers at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 7 in the state semi-final game. The winner of that game will then play for the FHSAA Class 1A State Title on Tuesday against the winner of the Port St. Joe and Jay High School Game at 4 p.m.