Johnsonville softball falls to Buford

JOHNSONVILLE — Wednesday will present the Johnsonville High School softball team with a new challenge.

The Flashes have lost a few games this season, but none of the losses have pushed them within sight of the end of their season.

Johnsonville can thank Buford’s Jena Hallman for that. The Jackets’ junior allowed one hit — a disputed ground-ball double that might or might not have hopped over third base — and also drilled a two-run home run as Buford won 4-0 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three Class A state championship series.

Game 2 is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Buford.

“We’ve ridden her all this year,” Buford coach Cecilia Davis said. “Jena has experience, maturity; she’s just the most determined pitcher I’ve ever had throw for me. She makes up her mind that she’s gotta do it and she does it.”

The Flashes (22-8) looked lost at times against Hallman (21-9), who struck out seven and allowed just three baserunners.

And they certainly didn’t look like the team that had breezed unbeaten through the lower state playoffs.

The deeper into the game, the more the Flashes started chasing pitches out of the strike zone, and Hallman wasn’t about to give them anything to hit.

“We just didn’t swing the bats,” Johnsonville coach Ryan Poston said. “It was just one of those days. You have good ones and you have bad ones, and we picked a bad time to have a bad one.

“I think we’re better than what we showed tonight.”

Hallman, staked to a 1-0 lead on Jordan Boone’s RBI single in the second, set down the first 11 batters she faced and then helped herself in the fifth.

Catie Rowell doubled to start the inning and with one out, Hallman launched Rachel Gaster’s offering over the fence in center.

The Jackets (25-9) added another run in the seventh on a somewhat odd play. Hallman lined one to right that Olivia Hatchell caught. While Hatchell was throwing to first base to double off Madisson
Finley, Boone tagged and scored from third.

The Jackets tallied eight hits off Gaster, who struck out four.

“We were really motivated to come down here to do well,” Davis said. “We’re in a county that has four high schools and the other three have won (softball) state championships and we haven’t.

“Now we’re in a position to take it home, possibly do it in two and maybe we can win a state championship in front of our home crowd.”

For the Flashes, Poston said it’s back to the drawing board to see if they can come up with an answer to Hallman.

“It’s a little out of character for us not to hit the ball,” Poston said. “But when you’ve got teenage girls playing for a state championship for the first time it’s not the same.

“But they’re fighters. They’ll put their best effort up on Wednesday.”