Lady Cougars Finish as 2024 State Runner-up

The 2024 season presented some new challenges for the Piedmont Academy softball team.

The Lady Cougars played its toughest regular season schedule in school history but still managed a quality overall record. Coach Joe Johnson knew that schedule would help prepare his team for the postseason.

Piedmont entered the state tournament last Thursday in Columbus looking to continue its championship streak. When all the dust had settled, the Lady Cougars were one game short of another state title.

The runner-up season was still an accomplishment.

Piedmont and Westfield locked in the final game of the season and competed in what will go down as one of the most unusual and high scoring state tournaments games ever played.

In the end, the Lady Hornets took a 26-18 win to secure the championship. The box score is something that almost boggles the mind as Westfield had 26 runs and 26 hits. The Lady Cougars had 18 runs and 23 hits.

It was the errors column, however, that played the difference. Piedmont had seven while Westfield had only one.

“It was a very successful season,” Coach Joe Johnson said. “It didn’t end up the way we wanted it to but we left it all on the field. Our girls played hard.”

Going into the final day of the state tournament, the Lady Cougars knew they would have to defeat Westfield twice. The Lady Hornets were undefeated having defeated Piedmont 14-5 on Friday.

The state tournament is double elimination and Piedmont extended its season with a 13-4 win in game on Saturday.

That set up the marathon final game where the teams combined for 44 runs and 49 hits.

“It is tough to beat anyone back-to-back let alone a tough Westfield team,” Johnson said. “We had a lot of ups and downs but had good leadership from our seniors in the finals. We made some mental mistakes in game two Saturday that turned out to be too much to overcome. All in all, it was a great season.”

In the final game, Piedmont led 7-6 after the second inning but the action was just getting started. Westfield scored seven runs in the fourth and 10 in the fifth with three insurance runs in the sixth.

The Lady Cougars would add three runs in the third inning, six in the fourth and two more in the fifth.

Senior Marissa Holder homered twice in the final game and drove in seven runs. Kylee Keck had four RBI and scored four runs.

Shaniyah Lane scored three runs and had three RBI while Memphis Sweat had two hits and an RBI.

Kolbee Osborne had two hits and an RBI with Kamie Gibby scoring two runs. Teagan Hinson had three hits and an RBI.

Piedmont opened play in Columbus Thursday with a 9-1 win against Brookwood. The Lady Cougars then defeated Terrell 16-1. Osborne homered in the win against Terrell.

The first loss came on Friday against Westfield (14-5). Piedmont then defeated Pinewood 14-1 to keep its season alive. Holder homered in the win against Pinewood.

Lane and MacKenzie Plunkett both had home runs in the first game against Westfield.

The Lady Cougars finished 2024 with a 19-6 overall record.