By Michael Lindsay
The Gordonsville Tigerettes (33-1) won their third consecutive Region 4-1A championship Wednesday evening as they traveled to Jo Byrns High School and defeated the Lady Devils, 12-1.
Wednesday’s contest was a rematch of the 2024 Class 1A state softball championship game, where Gordonsville defeated the Lady Devils 11-1.
“My hat goes off to Jo Byrns; they’re a good team,” said Gordonsville head coach Jonathan Bush. “We were able to get some runs early and I’m happy we came here and played a good game.”
First baseman Callie Dillard and catcher Bailey Stewart led the way at the plate with three combined home runs. Stewart went 3-4 with a homer, a double and 4 RBIs while Dillard hit two solo homers.
“We’re able to hit up and down the lineup,” said Bush. “We moved Callie down in the lineup not as punishment, but to have a home run hitter lower in the lineup and it’s worked out.”
Senior lefty Kailey Plumlee struck out 7 batters in 5 innings of action while surrendering 1 hit and 5 walks.
Gordonsville opened the contest with one run in the top of the first inning via an Abby Brinkley single to score Kali Underwood, giving the Tigerettes a 1-0 lead. The first-inning run came against Jo Byrns freshman pitcher Lauren Vaughn, who was making her fourth start of the season and first appearance since April 17.
“We don’t worry about who we’re playing or who they’re throwing,” said Bush. “We have to play our game. It was an adjustment because we were expecting one of their main starters, but we adjusted after an unconventional start.”
After a scoreless second inning, the Tigerette offense came to life in the top of the third inning via a Plumlee double to score Kat Johnson followed by a two-run Stewart homer to left, giving Gordonsville a 4-0 advantage.
The onslaught continued in the fourth with Dillard’s first solo home run of the day followed by two Tigerettes runs via a Jo Byrns error and a Stewart single to score Brinkley, extending the Tigerette lead to 9-0.
Jo Byrns scored a run in the bottom of the fourth inning before Gordonsville scored three more in the top of the fifth to take a 12-1 lead. Plumlee shut down the Lady Devils in the bottom of the fifth to secure the 12-1 run-rule victory.
Up next for Gordonsville is the Class 1A sectional round on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at home against Region 3-1A runner-up Whitwell.
“That’s been a big game in the substate round; we’ve played them several times,” said Bush. “All respect goes to them and they’ll be ready to go.”
