Resilient CCA softball team finishes as Class 4A finalists
By Datti Jinkiri
Resiliency. One could say that word was the theme for the Clinton Christian Academy fast-pitch softball team this season. The team finished with a 19-14 record and an appearance in the MAIS Class 4A State Championship Game. Through the regular season and playoffs, the Lady Warriors fought through moments of adversity to earn a fourth straight appearance in a state championship game.
This was the Lady Warriors’ first season in Class 4A, after being in Class 3A for the last few seasons. They were arguably the powerhouse of Class 3A, winning the last three state championships in that classification. However, moving up to a new classification meant competing against bigger schools than usual.
The team also had to cope with the departures of Hanna Zeitz, Iris Farve and Maddie Weeks. Each of those players are currently playing at the collegiate level, with Zeitz and Favre playing at Jones College and Weeks playing at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. Head Coach Josh Zeitz, the father of Hanna Zeitz, knew that this season would bring changes to him and his team.
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“I told the girls at our first practice that this year would be very different from the previous three state championship years,” Zeitz said. “I said there would be some ups and downs and that there would be times where it would look bleak. I also told them if they worked hard, stuck together and stayed coachable, we would have a chance to compete for another state championship.”
A big turning point in the season came when the Lady Warriors were just .500 after getting swept by Tri-County. It was here that Coach Zeitz said that the team was able to take a break, reset and prepare to attack the rest of the season.
“I met with the team after the [Tri-County] game and told them I was going to make some defensive changes,” Zeitz said. “I also told them we were going to take four days off. But when we came back, I told them I was going to work harder than ever, and, if they committed to working harder, we could still reach our ultimate goal.”
After the short break, the team began to look better in practice. Zeitz’s defensive changes also paid dividends. He switched the positions of stalwarts Nat Toups and Rilee Evans. Toups moved to shortstop, while Evans moved to third base.
The team improved defensively, and this helped propel them to the end of the regular season. With the South State Tournament on the horizon, the Warriors finished in a three-way tie for the district championship. However, the team entered the MAIS Class 4A South State Tournament as the number-three seed in the district due to tiebreakers.
South State Tournament
The Lady Warriors traveled to Amite School Center for South State and opened with a game against Centreville. Despite taking a 7-0 lead, the team succumbed to an 8-7 defeat. This loss put the team in the losers’ bracket, and they would have to win twice in a row that same day to keep the season alive.
Next on the log was Lamar Christian, who the Lady Warriors defeated easily 14-0. This set up a meeting with the Louisiana-based Riverfield Academy. With the season on the line and the game tied in the top of the seventh inning, Maddie Bruner hit a tie-breaking home run to give the Lady Warriors the lead for good. They added two more in the inning to win the game 10-7, thereby qualifying for the MAIS Class 4A State Tournament.
State Tournament
Up next for the Lady Warriors was the state tournament, which was played at the Magee Sportsplex. They opened the tournament against the number-one seed from the North, Marshall Academy. Marshall was one of the favorites to win the tournament, but that did little to intimidate the Lady Warriors. They recovered from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Marshall 9-6. When trailing by four, Rilee Evans halved the lead with a big two-run single in the fifth inning. Bruner then showcased her clutch gene once again as she hit the go-ahead three-run home run.
Unfortunately, the Lady Warriors fell to Amite 7-6 in game two, meaning that the team would have to fight from the losers’ bracket for the second straight tournament. This meant they would now have to win three games in one day to make it to the State Championship game.
After easily shutting out Lee Academy 12-0, the Lady Warriors faced Marshall Academy for the second time in the tournament. And for the second time, they fought back to upset the North Mississippians. The 14-12 win came after the Lady Warriors overcame five different deficits in the game.
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The Lady Warriors then won their third game of the day against Amite, thereby avenging an earlier defeat in the tournament. The 10-4 win over Amite advanced them to the State Championship Series against Tri-County. However, Tri-County ended the Lady Warriors’ great run with a two-game sweep. Despite the heartbreak at the end, Coach Zeitz was positive about his team’s performance.
“Though we lost to Tri-County, we proved to everyone that doubted us that CCA softball would continue to compete for championships,” he said. “We finished the year 19-14 and were the 4A state runner up.”
Key Contributors
Statistically, the season was a fruitful one for plenty of Lady Warriors this season. Many players stepped up in the absence of last season’s seniors.
Evans and Bruner were two key cogs in the team’s offense. Evans was the district’s MVP; she batted .444 with ten home runs, 55 runs scored, and 55 runs batted in (RBI). Bruner led the team with a .495 batting average, while also hitting 13 doubles, ten home runs, and 47 RBIs.
Robin Neblett and Nat Toups were the team’s seniors. The speedy Neblett led the team with 32 stolen bases, while Toups batted .419 and hit eight home runs. Both have committed to play at the college level as well; Neblett is headed for Southwest Mississippi Community College, while Toups is committed to Holmes Community College.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the team had two eighth-graders and a freshman make key contributions to the varsity team this season. Addison Crowder, one of the eighth-graders, was fourth on the team with a .324 batting average. Another eight-grader, pitcher Ashlen Albritton, won three key games in the state tournament. Freshman pitcher Annalise Whitworth threw 145 innings and earned the win in 16 of the Lady Warriors’ 19 victories this season.
The contributions of these youngsters signify that the team’s future is bright. Going into next season, they will likely be one of the contenders for the 2022 Class 4A State Championship.
