GAINESVILLE -- Union County softball has some lofty goals in mind this season -- on Saturday the Lady Panthers took an impressive first step forward, winning the Lanier Pointe Invitational at Lanier Pointe Park in Gainesville.
"We've finished second in this tournament two-three times before, and we finally got it this time," Union County coach Jessica Stewart said after watching her squad blank East Hall 7-0 in the gold bracket championship contest.
"It's definitely early in the season, but the girls showed they're determined, and they want to win region and then get back to Columbus."
The Lady Panthers finished 32-4 last season, coming in second in Columbus in the Class AA championship bracket. With one exception, Union picked right back up where it left off on the opening weekend of the season, going 5-1 over the Lanier Pointe tourney -- the only blot coming in an 11-1 loss to North Hall on Saturday morning.
"We played some great defense this weekend, and we hit the ball pretty well overall too," Stewart said. "Except for that one game, it went really well."
Reigning Class AA pitcher of the year Angie Hughes dominated for the Lady Panthers, going 5-0 over the weekend while pitching four shutouts and picking up her 750th career strikeout.
The senior is aiming to become only the seventh pitcher in GHSA history to notch 1,000 career strikeouts.
"She's pretty dominant," Stewart said of Hughes.
Callie Dyer led the way at the plate for Union in the championship game, smashing two doubles while going 4-for-4.
And Union's only loss of the weekend came against eventual silver bracket champs North Hall, which stormed into the season with a 4-2 mark during tournament play.
The Lady Trojans pushed past Flowery Branch in the silver bracket finale on Saturday, 6-2.
"This is a huge confidence booster," North Hall coach Brooke Russell said. "We start the region season on Tuesday against Lumpkin County, and we feel pretty good going into that after the way we performed here."
The Lady Trojans Courtney Gearin controlled the championship contest from the pitching circle for North Hall despite giving up solo home runs to Casey Zoeller and Caitlyn Fowler.
"She'll be doing a lot for us this season," Russell said of the senior hurler.
It was also a nice way to open Russell's first season in charge for the Lady Trojans alum.
"These are my roots," said Russell. "It's been great to come back. We played great defense today, and if we keep hitting all day like we did today, that will be a strength for us this season."
The Lady Trojans sealed the silver bracket trophy in the fourth inning, as Cartee Delong, Whitney Swing and Tiffany Hamilton each scored to give North Hall a 4-1 lead. Ellie Forrester and Alex Kanaday also tacked on insurance runs for the Lady Trojans.
East Hall, which finished second in the gold bracket, closed the tournament with a 4-2 mark, notching wins over Flowery Branch, Habersham Central and White County on Saturday.
Dawson County claimed third place in the gold bracket, beating out White County, while Habersham finished fifth and Commerce took sixth. Wesleyan finished seventh in the bracket, while Gilmer was eighth.
Blessed Trinity finished third in the Silver bracket, edging out West Hall, while Rabun County claimed fifth place in front of Hart County. Chestatee ended the tournament seventh, while Gainesville was eighth.
Thursday
April 24th, 2025
10:19AM
