That's because the North Hall Lady Trojans are flying high as they prepare for their game against West Laurens in the opening round of the State Tournament Thursday.
"They are itching to play. It's been hard to keep them from getting too excited. We've had some very spirited practices," said Fannon, who is guiding the Lady Trojans to just their second appearance in the softball playoffs, the first in fastpitch. They went in 2000 in slowpitch.
First pitch against West Laurens is scheduled for 2 p.m.
A win would pit No. 3 North Hall, the top seed from Region 7-AAA, against the winner of the Perry-Elbert County game at 8 p.m. Thursday night. They beat Elbert in the North Sectionals last week. A loss would drop them into the loser's bracket and an 11 a.m. elimination game Friday.
Fannon said even though they are playing the bottom seed from Region 4-AAA, there are no easy games at this point.
"Every team is good when you get to this point. All of us have good pitching, probably play pretty good defense and can hit. Moving on boils down to execution," Fannon said. "(West Laurens) is built around one player - Cherie Morton - who is an outstanding pitcher. She throws in upper 50s (mph) and is also their best hitter. But I'm sure they have other good players."
North Hall is no stranger to top-notch pitching. Region 7-AAA offers some of the top arms in the state in Whitney Propes of Pickens County, considered the top pitcher in Georgia in Class AAA, Holli Lewis of Flowery Branch and Brooke Puckett of Chestatee.
None of those were able to beat North Hall during the year and the Lady Trojans will counter with Haley Bower, who has outdueled each one of them without as much recognition.
"Haley has been outstanding all year. She doesn't get as much attention as those other girls but she goes out there and does her job and gives us a chance to win," Fannon said. "As far as hitting, we've been a good hitting team all year. I'm sure (Morton) is good but Whitney and Holli both throw harder than her so I feel we can get some hits and score some runs."
North Hall's motto all year has been Hit to Win. Even though small-ball is a big part of fastpitch softball - bunting for hits and moving runners over - Fannon said his team likes to swing away.
He doesn't see any need to change strategies at this point.
"Frankly, we're not a real good bunting team," he said. "We've bunted when we needed too, but the girls like to hit and I let them. We'll do whatever is necessary to get a run as the situation dictates, but we have eight girls in the starting lineup who are hitting over .300. Why take the bats out of their hands?"
The Lady Trojans (28-4) are in the midst of an 18-game winning streak so it's hard to argue with success.
Bower also leads the attack along with Emily Romine, Brooke Smith, Kristi Underwood, Amy Smith, Cheryl Case, Erica Howser and Amber Belton.
Fannon, however, may have one big weapon sitting on the bench. Starting second baseman Lindsay Kitchens has been out since the first game of the Sectionals with what is described as a "tendon" injury.
"It's kind of day-to-day. She's questionable and we don't want it to get into something serious. But she's a big part of our offense and defense and if she can't play it changes how we play," Fannon said. "But we won three games without her last week so we know it can be done. But I'd rather have her out there than sitting on the bench if possible."
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/10/169961