With her birthday on Friday the 13th and only 13 at-bats to her credit, Callie Faircloth had to consider herself the luckiest softball player at the Strong Rock Christian complex.

Faircloth’s MVP performance at the plate and on the field, coupled with some equally valuable work in the circle from Avien Trull, sent the Georgia Military College softball Bulldogs to the fourth GCAA tournament championship in the 11 years of head coach Ashley Bunn. It was one of the more difficult runs to the top, for GMC went to Locust Grove as the No. 4 seed, and the top-seeded ABAC Phillies of Tifton sent the Bulldogs straight to the loser’s bracket on opening day May 12 winning 5-2.

With all margin for error (and the Bulldogs had four in that first loss) gone, Bunn’s group out-lasted both Gordon State and East Georgia in elimination games that went extra innings. Since Jana Shellhorse, her No. 1 pitcher, went 11 innings to beat East Georgia on Friday, May 13, Bunn went to Trull for what she hoped would be the first of two starts against ABAC in the championship bracket. GMC needed two wins (ABAC only one), and while Trull only struck out one batter in 14 innings, she got those victories by scores of 6-3 and 6-3.

“It was really just an adrenaline thing,” said Trull. “I knew it needed to be done, and my team really backed me up. I pitched decent, but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.

“I’ve never been a strikeout pitcher, always a ground-ball pitcher.”

In a lineup that features two of the top five in the GCAA in RBI (Avery Mercer and MacKenzie Kilpatrick), two of the top five in home runs (Kilpatrick and Makensey Sapp) plus .386 hitter Lily Griffith, it was Faircloth producing the major offensive blows – two extra-base hits – in these two wins over the Phillies. This is the same Callie Faircloth who will start in the outfield of a doubleheader’s opener, but be the flex player while a designated player hits for her, then give way to another outfielder in the second game.

On more than one occasion, Faircloth even out-smarted her own coach.

“That was a huge surprise to me, honest,” said Faircloth about going deep to break a tie in the first finals game. “I haven’t (homered) all year, haven’t gotten the at-bats, so when I did it, it shocked myself.”

The home run was on at-bat No. 13 of 2022.

The spoils of the GCAA tournament championship: one of the 16 bids to the NJCAA championships that begin May 24 in Yuma, Arizona.

But it didn’t look like there’d be an Arizona in the Bulldogs future when ABAC scored four runs in the sixth inning in the conference opener. Kilpatrick and Kinsley Goolsby each drove in a run, but the Bulldogs had just five hits. Shellhorse walked two and fanned one in seven innings.

“We had three errors in one inning that allowed them to tie the game and eventually go ahead,” said Bunn, the Bulldogs leading 1-0 on the Kilpatrick homer. “A couple of things, emotions and jitters, but ABAC’s a very good team. We knew we’d have to play clean, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.”

East Georgia shut out the powerful Gordon State lineup 5-0, so that sent the Highlanders into that loser’s bracket. With four runs in the eighth inning, GMC avoided a one-day stay at Strong Rock winning 8-4. The Bulldogs were ahead 4-1 going into the seventh, but that Highlander power finally showed up.

Trull went 6 1/3 innings as the starter, then Shellhorse retired all five batters she faced in relief. Marley Smith and Macy Poisal each drove in three runs and Mercer had two RBI.

“We knew Gordon had really good bats, and at any time they can put a number of runs up,” said Bunn. Trull retired the first batter of Gordon State’s seventh, but the next batter homered. A single and second home run followed tying the game.

“In the eighth inning, we just came back out and responded,” said Bunn. “Got key hits, moved people around and ultimately were able to score four runs. We did most of that damage with either one or two outs to give us some separation.

“That was really big for (Shellhorse) to be able to come back and get that win, shut them down after losing earlier. Avien pitched an amazing game.”

But Bunn said she hit some bad spots where Gordon State tagged the ball.

ABAC defeated East Georgia in six innings, so on Friday the 13th it was GMC and East Georgia to see who would have to beat ABAC twice. Nobody wanted to leave as the contest went 11 innings. After seven it was tied 1-1, and each team scored in the 10th.

Shellhorse gave up 10 hits going all 11 with seven strikeouts. She also had two hits at the plate as did Kilpatrick.

“At that point, we didn’t make anything easy,” said Bunn. “We kept everybody on the edge of their seats for the rest of the day.

“Jana did a really good job of mixing things up and hitting her spots.”

Faircloth starter her MVP resume with a “phenomenal” catch in centerfield and included a throw to home plate for a double play. That ended an East Georgia rally where they scored in regulation. Bunn said that was just one of the plays Faircloth made to get two outs on EG.

“I wanted to give my full effort because those could have been the last games of my career,” said Faircloth.

“That game was long, emotional. You think you have something going good then don’t get it,” said Bunn. “Things could have gone one way or the other.”

But a good thing did happen when Poisel got a squeeze bunt in play that scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th. Poisal also had to play catcher for half of the East Georgia game and the next two because Goolsby was injured in a collision with Shellhorse.

Faircloth had some defensive highlights during the regular season but decided here to become an offensive star. Her three-run home run broke a 2-2 tie with ABAC in the fourth inning. Mercer also homered and had two RBI to back up Trull’s work. She threw seven innings, scattered three hits and walked none in the 6-3 win that forced an ‘if’ game.

Bunn said ABAC put Goolsby – still batting as DP – on intentionally to pitch to Faircloth.

“We told (her) to be patient,” said Bunn. “Callie swung at the first pitch and hit it over the left-field fence. She knows better than we do … in that moment. Friday was Callie’s birthday, so all the stars aligned for her. She had a day … she will never forget, one we’ll never forget. It goes as one of the best days in the history of our program.”

Trull’s pitch count for the first ABAC game was in the 60s while Shellhorse went over 100 vs. East Georgia. Bunn said Shellhorse was available but decided to give Trull a second straight start. The Waycross freshman answered with seven more innings, eight hits allowed and three walks, but also another 6-3 win. It was GMC all the way leading 2-1 after five and adding four in the seventh.

“Avien owns the mound,” said Bunn. “She did a great job of letting her defense make the plays behind her. They put the ball in play; we made the plays. For her to go out there as a freshman and not be all over the place … she came to me and said ‘I can go again.’ For her to want the ball and my other players to want her to have the ball, they were all excited for Avien and Callie. To see that love and selflessness towards their teammates, it was fun to be a part of.”

Faircloth again went against the coach’s wishes (bunt) and tripled in the clinching win. Bunn said the defense was playing back and she could beat out a bunt down the first-base line. Faircloth went that way, swinging instead.

“Once again, she’s smarter than I am,” said Bunn. “Every team that was there, all four of us had been fighting all year long. Us, Gordon and East all finished at 15-9 in the season. Every one of them played hard. For us to win it the way we did, it’s a testament to how tough our conference was.”

“It was well-fought,” said Faircloth. “It felt great to come back from the loser’s bracket.”