STATE CHAMPS -- North Duplin claims 1-A softball championship

By News-Argus Staff
Published in Sports on June 7, 2015 1:52 AM

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By RUDY COGGINS

rcoggins@newsargus.com

GREENSBORO -- Fatigue was not an option.

A shutout loss was not acceptable.

North Duplin vowed on its three-hour bus ride late Friday evening that it wouldn't return home Saturday as state runner-up.

The Rebels honored their pledge.

Rylee Pate earned Most Valuable Player honors as the Rebels upended Hiwassee Dam, 7-3, in the decisive game of the 2015 N.C. High School Athletic Association Class 1-A state softball championship series Saturday evening.

The Eagles took the opener 7-0 on Friday. North Duplin bounced back to win 2-1 on the UNC Greensboro diamond to force the winner-take-all game.

"We were a little disappointed at the way we played (Friday), but we knew we still had another day and we were going to come back today, show them what we have (as a team) and what we can do," said Pate, who threw 111⁄3 innings in the three-game set, including a 139-pitch outing in the opener.

"(Winning the MVP) is very exciting and it shows how hard I've worked this whole year. But I couldn't have done it without my teammates, they've played great defense behind me all year and we've all come through with big hits throughout the year."

As the team exited the stadium Friday evening, Edwards walked up to Haley Brogden.

"You're throwing game two tomorrow," Edwards said.

Brogden never flinched as she stepped inside the circle in an attempt to keep the Rebels' state title hopes alive. Aware of the Eagles' strength at the top of the order, Brogden efficiently painted the corners of the plate like Rembrandt.

"I said to myself last night that I've got to come here, do what I need to do as a pitcher to win this game," Brogden said. "We worked it a lot inside and outside, used a few change-ups here and there, and a few riseballs."

Hiwassee Dam (25-5 overall) managed just two hits after touching Pate for 10 hits less than 24 hours earlier. The Eagles scratched out a fourth-inning run to tie the game at 1-all.

In the sixth, with a runner on third, Brogden stepped into the batter's box. She hit a chopper on the hard clay that bounced over the third baseman's head and led to the game-winning run.

"It worked out real good for me," Brogden said.

And her teammates.

The game-winning hit gave North Duplin (20-4-1) one more chance to become the first-ever softball team to win a state championship in school history.

Brogden took the mound in game three and worked 11⁄3 innings on the rubber. The Rebels built a three-run lead during that stretch, so Edwards called on Pate to finish off Hiwassee Dam -- the three-time defending Smoky Mountain Conference champion.

Pate, like Brodgen, mixed her speeds well. The Eagles couldn't handle the sophomore right-hander's curveball and didn't score again after the pushing across two second-inning runs.

"I just had to move the ball really well," Pate said. "My curveball was working well tonight, so I was able to go with that pitch tonight. I had to get the job done and bring home a state championship."

A team that had posted five shutouts in the postseason and scored 27 runs coming into the state finals, put just eight runners on base and endured its first postseason shutout since 2012 on Friday.

Hiwassee Dam right-hander Haylie Shope held the Rebels hitless until Alyssa Santos drilled a two-out single between third base and shortstop in the bottom of the sixth inning. Shope walked the next two batters, but escaped trouble with an inning-ending strikeout.

The Eagles built a 7-0 lead through the first three innings and were aided by a Rebels' defense that committed an uncharacteristic three errors. Pate (14-3) allowed two earned runs on 10 hits and posted 12 strikeouts in the complete-game loss.

"I felt like after a while we settled down, but the key was hitting that ball. I thought Rylee battled hard on the mound," Edwards said. "They did a good job of putting the ball in play."

Pate and Brogden said the team did a better job of adjusting to Shope in games two and three. North Duplin scored a total of nine runs off of 13 hits and capitalized on three Hiwassee Dam errors.

Just two other teams have managed to emerge as state champions -- the 1972 football team and the 1989 men's basketball team -- during North Duplin's five-plus decades of existence. Since the Carolina Conference's inception in 1972, nine different schools have combined to win 14 state championships.

"It means a lot to us to bring it back to North Duplin and the community in general," Brogden said. "We knew coming into the season we would be a good ball team, but I never thought we would be right here where we are right now."

And that's a state champion.

(Editor's note: Before Friday's game, North Duplin sophomore outfielder Maddie Swinson received the NCHSAA Sportsmanship Award. Edwards described Swinson as "a fantastic young lady, a great student and does a great job for us on the softball team. She was very surprised, but it's well deserved.")