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It was a great run for the two-time defending state champion CCA Lady Patriots this season but that run came to an end Friday afternoon in the GIAA Class A semifinals in Columbus. The Lady Patriots suffered two defeats in the tournament, both at the hands of the David Emanuel Academy Lady Eagles. David Emanuel went on to beat Fullington twice on Saturday morning to win the state championship.
After beating Flint River 7-0 in game one of the playoffs Thursday, CCA lost 7-0 to David Emanuel that same day. On Friday, the Lady Patriots beat Twiggs Academy 7-1 then followed that with a 10-0 win over Thomas Jefferson.
That staged a rematch between the Lady Patriots and the Lady Eagles. David Emanuel had lost earlier on Friday to Fullington. That game sent Fullington, the #1 seed, to Saturday’s championship game. The Lady Eagles had to play the Lady Patriots Friday afternoon for a berth in the title game.
In the Twiggs game, Brilynn Waldron was 3-3 with a run and two RBI. Allie Veal was 2-3 with two runs. Mattie Lewis doubled as well. Peighton Harper drove in two. Shanley Meeks, Harper, and Veal combined for a two-hitter.
Against Thomas Jefferson, head coach Jeremy Coram gave the ball to Veal, an eighth grader, with the season on the line. She delivered big time, allowing just three hits while striking out five and walking one in the run-rule shortened affair.
The offense continued to roll, with Emma Gourley and Mattie Lewis each tallying three hits. Klair Mercer drove in two while Harper drove in three. Maci Rucker had two hits, one of which was a double.
The Lady Patriots’ good fortunes ran out in the 4 p.m. rematch with DEA. The Lady Eagles were consistent, scoring one in the first, two in the second, one in the fourth, and two in the seventh.
CCA, meanwhile, hit the ball hard throughout the game but hit directly at the DEA defense. The Lady Eagles were more than up to the task and made play after play, keeping the Lady Patriots off the basepaths and ultimately off the scoreboard.
Maci Rucker had two hits. With one apiece, Waldron and Lewis had the only other hits for the Lady Patriots.
Meeks and Harper handled the pitching duties for CCA. Meeks started and went six innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits. She struck out six. Harper allowed two runs on two hits. She struck out one. Neither Meeks nor Harper walked anyone.
“Any time you win a championship, and especially when you’re going for a threepeat, you’ve got to get some breaks. We didn’t get very many. I saw some of the hardest hit balls in the entire tournament across all classifications in our game and none of them fell. We hit it right at people. And you’ve got to give David Emanuel credit – they caught every one. They’re a really good team and they played as well as anyone in the tournament. You saw that when they beat Fullington twice on Saturday. The season didn’t end the way we wanted it to but I’m proud of our team. We’re losing Brilynn [Waldron] and Arabelle [Roberts]. They’re going to be hard to replace but we’ve got all of our pitching coming back. We should be in pretty good shape for next season,” said Coach Coram.
The Lady Patriots finished 2026 with a 25-6 record.
