From staff reports

Troup County’s players gave it all they had, but it wasn’t quite enough Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Georgia Recreation and Parks Association 13-14-year-old state tournament in Augusta.

After winning a game earlier in the day to reach the championship round, Troup team fell to Spalding County 11-0 on the sun-scorched field.

“I can’t say enough about how much heart these girls have,” head coach David Barrett said. “All of our players did super well out there and gave it their all and that is all that you can ask for.”

Troup, which came into the tournament with just nine players, meaning there were no substitutes, beat Rome 8-2 on Saturday to stay alive.

With just 30 minutes between games, Troup was unable to hang with a strong Spalding team.

Barrett said everyone contributed to the second-place finish.

“It was just an all-around team effort,” Barrett said. “Our defense gave a great effort on the field every time that we went out there.

Barrett mentioned the play of pitcher Audrey Barrett, who threw all six games for the team, along with catcher, Claudia Massey as a big part of the team’s success during the tournament.

“They have been working together all year,” Barrett said. “Claudia calls her own game out there, and Audrey had a lot of strikeouts for us.”

Barrett went on to mention the play of infielders Kalea Johnson, Savannah Galloway and Brooke Bonner, whom he said, “made several spectacular catches and turned one super double play to help us stay in games.”

On the offensive side, Barrett said he was very proud of his team’s play and how the hitters battled at the plate.

“All around the team got some great hits,” Barrett said. “Kalea had a lot of strong hits, for us and brought in several runs. Harley Bonner, Hannah Hubbard and Amanda Miller also hit the ball really well and all got some great two out hits for us. Makenzie Traylor also laid down some bunts for us and she is the best base runner you have ever seen.”

Barrett said there were no regrets.

“We came into the tournament with nine players,” Barrett said. “This was the best that I have seen them play all year and I couldn’t be prouder of them.”