It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.

If you need proof, ask Zion Chapel.

After entering the state tournament 19-15 and as the No. 2 qualifier in the South Regional, the Rebels completed their sweep of the Class 2A state softball tournament on Tuesday with a 5-2 victory over Pisgah.

The victory marked the first softball championship for Zion Chapel, which fell in the elimination bracket of last season’s tournament.

“A lot of folks thought last year when we came down here and we choked, a lot of folks wrote us off,” Zion Chapel coach Ethan Deal said. “Earlier in the year, a lot of folks wrote us off. But, this group right here, they found something about a little over halfway through the season, and we got better and we got better. 

“We preached it all year: regular season doesn’t matter, area tournament doesn’t matter. When you get down here, if you’re playing your best ball, that’s all that matters. To be bringing it back to Jack means the absolute world to me.”

The victory in the state championship game was guided by another strong performance from pitcher Riley Bannin, who claimed Class 2A state tournament MVP.

She allowed just 5 hits and 1 earned run across 7 innings in the victory for the Rebels.

When asked about the stretch she and her team had put together over the last stretch of the season, the senior said a growth in team chemistry helped take a stretch of success to the next level.

“It finally hit us once we made it to regionals, that we really had this and we had a chance,” Bannin said. “We just had to buckle down and all fight as a team and become one all over again, like last year. We did it this year.”

Sydney Boothe and Emily Rhodes both collected 3 hits apiece, while Aubrey Bassett went 2-for-4 in the victory for Zion Chapel.

Alyssa Forehand and Kaylee Hodge both drove in a pair of runners each in the win for the Rebels, with Boothe also driving in a run.

Pisgah’s Madeline Flammia — a UAB signee — went 2-for-3 with a solo home run in the win, also scoring both of the Eagles runs in the win; Brinley Chisenall, Campbell Barron and Julianne Davis each had a hit apiece.

“Originally being from there, it means the world,” Deal said of the championship victory. “I don’t know of another person that has more pride in Jack, Alabama, than I do. I always told myself, when I started with this group, when they were in the eighth grade, that we were going to win a state championship.”

One of three seniors for Zion Chapel, Bannin credited last season’s run of success as a reason for the championship victory and added that going out a champion means “that much more.”

“I don’t think it really hit any of us that we were at a state championship game,” Bannin said. “We came in and we were talking about it in the dugout. It really just felt like another tournament day, and until those last three hours, we finally realized we just made history. 

“That was a lot of it, was just the calmness and realizing that we didn’t have pressure on us. We were able to just play and play our ball and win it all.”

The heightened chemistry encouraged the coaching staff to almost take a step back and let the players do their own thing, with Deal priding his team on pushing through for the win.

“It is every girl that takes that field,” Deal said. “I told them, me and the other two coaches, we’re not going to win it for them. We’re not going to lose it for them. They’re talented enough to go out there and do it. We stay out of their way. 

“This has nothing to do with us, the stringing it together and just finding a way. We played two really, really close ball games yesterday, but they just found a way. We talk about winning is contagious. When you find out how to do it, it’s hard to lose.”