When Caledonia’s softball team made the jump from MHSAA Class 4A to 5A, its standards remained the same.
With the last two Region 3-4A championships in their back pocket, the Cavs made it their mission to follow up and do the same in their first season in the new Region 1-5A – and on Thursday the team brought it to fruition. Caledonia (21-2, 9-1) routed region foe West Point 13-0 on the road to put the finishing touches on a sweep that concluded their dominant run through Region 1-5A with them the Cavs holding up the district championship trophy. It’s a brand new region for them but it’s still the same great feeling, head coach Andy Finch said.
“I am happy for the girls. That was one of their goals this year, another region championship and they set that goal and they reached that goal,” Finch said. “I couldn’t be more happy for them and the coaching staff and the town. The school has been behind these girls. We have teachers supporting them, fellow classmates supporting girls and we have other teams around the state texting, ‘Hey, congratulations. (We are) proud of the girls and (we are) pulling for ya’ll.’ I’m really happy for them to being able to three-peat in a district like this. Any time you three-peat it’s tough, and they are one of the few that said, ‘Hey, we three-peated and not in an easy district either.’”
The third trophy in a row was earned by dismantling West Point by a combined 29-0. The Cavs rattled off nine hits and nine RBI Thursday as Marlee Kate Franks threw the shutout to the tune of only one hit, two walks and nine strikeouts.
“She did an outstanding job of going out there and just throwing strikes and getting outs. That’s all we’ve ever asked, just give us a chance to play defense behind you, and she did that,” Finch said of Franks. “Our bats came alive against West Point. I had a lot of girls step up and hit the ball good, which helped take a lot of weight off Marlee Kate with her being young and inexperienced at the varsity level, but it gave her some experience, gave her some confidence and kind of gave the whole team a little bit of confidence.”
The win punctuated a dominant rampage through the region that ended with the Cavs only suffering a single setback – a 7-4 loss to Pontotoc. The Cavs, who clock into the leaderboard as the No. 3 team in 5A and the No. 13 team in state according to Max Preps, outscored its region opponents 86-17 along the way, including six shutouts. Their dominance also earned them a No. 1 seed in the Class 5A playoffs and they’ll take on No. 4 seed Holmes County Central when the tournament begins at a date and time yet to be determined. New Hope (7-3) finished in second place, Lafayette (7-3) took third, Pontotoc (5-5) landed in fourth, West Point (2-8) fifth and Columbus (0-10) sixth.
“Being the number one seed is always good because it shows that your are one of the better teams in the district and you’ve beat some good teams to get to that point, but it’s also a whole new season once the playoffs start,” Finch said. “We tell the girls all the time, ‘Whatever you’ve done in the past isn’t going to help you in the next round. That’s not going to help you next week, that’s not going to help you next game so you have to refocus.’”
But before they embark on a postseason run, the Cavs had a little business to take care of first. The regular season concluded Friday against Tuscaloosa County, which was one of the only two teams to hand Caledonia a loss. Needless to say it’s a game the Cavs are looking forward to playing.
“The girls kind of got this game circled on the calendar after they beat us the first time,” Finch said. “They have a little pep in their step because they are coming to Caledonia and they are talking about revenge. It’ll be a great game, it’s a good team and if you beat that team you beat a really good team. They are really excited about the game.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
