GHSA Baseball State Championships Hosted by Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves partnered with the GHSA to host the 5A, 6A and 7A high school baseball state championships at their home stadium, Truist Park, on May 24-26.
This is not the first time the championship game has been held at the Braves’ stadium. In previous years, only 7A teams have faced off there, while teams in lower classifications held their games at the Braves’ in-state minor league stadiums.
“The partnership is a part of the team’s ongoing initiatives to help grow youth baseball in (Georgia),” the Braves organization said in a press release.
Games were a best-of-three doubleheader, with the first pitch set for 5 p.m. The second game started 30 minutes after the first game concluded. If a third game was needed, it was played the following day.
The first series featured two dominant teams from the 7A classification: the Parkview Panthers versus the North Paulding Wolfpack.
Parkview defeated North Paulding 4-0 in Game 1 and 3-2 in Game 2, securing their third consecutive state title.
The Panthers were on an impressive 16-game winning streak heading into the state title game, beating their semifinal opponent, Lowndes, by a score of 16-2.
Senior Cade Sadler lead the Panthers in nearly every statistical category, ending the season with a .411 batting average and 13 home runs.
Parkview also had one of the top players in the country on their team in Ryan Spikes. The University of Tennessee commit posted a .400 batting average with 33 RBIs and 10 home runs this season. Spikes also played a big role in Parkview’s semifinal game, knocking in two home runs and six RBIs.
The 5A series featured another team going for consecutive state championship wins in the Loganville Red Devils. They won state titles in 2017, 2018, and 2019 and boasted a 30-9 record heading into their state championship matchup.
Loganville ultimately fell to Starr’s Mill High School 1-0 in Game 1 and 4-2 in Game 2.
Starr’s Mill had a great postseason, including a tough battle against top-seed Greenbrier, where they beat the Wolfpack 10-1 in Game 3 of the semifinal round.
The 6A series had Lassiter High School competing for their first state championship against the Houston County Bears, who came away with the win, defeating Lassiter 2-1 in Game 1 and 4-0 in Game 2.
Houston County dominated this postseason, recording a shutout in all five rounds and only losing one game.
These were the first state championship games played since 2019 after the season was cut short last year due to COVID-19.
Written by: Jacob Johnson
