Open Bible girls win third straight state championship

Published 9:00 am Thursday, May 11, 2017

The Open Bible softball team defeated Appling Christian in Game 3 of the GCAA state championship series Saturday to capture its third straight state title.

After going through the regular season undefeated (14-0) and sweeping its semifinal series (2-0) against Grace Christian, Open Bible hosted Appling Christian for the GCAA State Championship Friday and Saturday.

Appling won Game 1 5-4 by scoring the winning run in the top of the seventh inning and subsequently keeping Open Bible from pushing across any runs in the bottom half, despite having bases loaded with no outs in the bottom of the seventh.

“We just didn’t hit when we needed to,” Open Bible head coach Peter Smith said of Game 1. “We left runners in scoring position in the first, third, fourth, sixth and seventh innings.”

Game two was a completely different story though. The Warriors rarely missed an opportunity to send a baserunner home.

Open Bible scored in every inning of Game 2 — two in the first, five in the second, two in the third, two in the fourth, and four in the fifth — en route to a 15-0 mercy-shortened victory in five innings. The Warriors were led by Madison Bland’s four hits and five RBI and three hits and three RBIs from Hannah Baker.

In all, the Warriors totaled 15 hits in Game 2 to support pitcher Kaylen Curry, who held the Eagles to three hits in the shut-out win.

Appling opened the scoring in Saturday’s decisive Game 3 with one run in the top of the first before Open Bible answered quickly with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.

The Warriors tacked on another run in the second, and an inning later Sarah Baker’s two-out double scored another pair of runs to give Open Bible a 6-2 lead.

After scoring a run in the top of the third, Appling Christian pushed across three runs in the top of the fifth to cut Open Bible’s lead to a single run.

But the Warriors immediately rebuilt their advantage with five runs in the bottom of the fifth, and two more in the sixth, to push the lead to 13-5. Open Bible held Appling scoreless over the final two innings, to secure a three-peat as GCAA state softball champions.

The Warriors tallied 13 runs on 16 hits in Game 3. Hope Smith went 4-for-5 at the plate and scored three runs, Sarah Baker tallied three runs on two hits, Curry finished 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Bland continued to produce with three more RBIs on two hits.

Curry pitched all three games for the Warriors.

“Games 2 and 3 were total team efforts,” Smith said. “Our seniors Emily Holton and Hannah Baker led the way both defensively and offensively for us. After dropping the first game, they just decided they did not want to lose.

“I am very proud of the way they fought back.”