It took Hatton and Wicksburg seven innings to produce a single run in their Class 2A winners bracket final on Wednesday morning.

They were just warming up.

The teams combined for 42 runs and 47 hits in two championship games at Oxford’s Signature Stadium, Hatton pulling out a 12-10 victory in deciding Game 2 after falling 14-6 in Game 1.

“What these kids accomplished this year, it had nothing to do with me,” said Hatton coach Denton Bowling. “This is a special group of young ladies and they’ve earned this. Words can’t express how proud I am.”

Big innings abounded with second-ranked Hatton (34-22) scoring seven runs after trailing 4-0 in the second inning on the way to the clinching win. That came after top-ranked Wicksburg (47-12) erased a 6-2 deficit by scoring nine runs in the fourth inning of Game 1.

It wasn’t always pretty – four errors in Game 1 and eight in Game 2 – but it added up to Hatton’s sixth state championship, all since 2010.

“Hard work beats talent when talent don’t work. I’ll stand by that saying day in and day out,” Bowling said. “This group has heart and that was the difference.

“All this group has ever done is fight. That’s all they’ve done all season and that’s what they did tonight. Because of that, they now get to call themselves champions.”

After winning Game 1, Wicksburg’s momentum appeared to carry over in to the second game. The Panthers scored four runs in the top of the first inning, but the Hornets sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the second, scoring seven runs off five hits to take a 7-4 lead.

A single run by Wicksburg in the top of the fourth briefly made the score 7-5 before Hatton responded with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning. Another Wicksburg run and two more Hatton runs in the fifth made the score 11-6 before the Panthers made one last push.

A four-run sixth inning pulled Wicksburg to 11-10, but Hatton added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning and the Panthers went down in order in the top of the seventh.

Tournament MVP Bradyn Mitchell recorded the pitching victory. She also had a single, a triple and two RBIs in the championship series.

Brianna Oliver and Kailyn Quails added two hits each and were also named to the all-tournament team. Mallie Yarbrough and Marlie Hood and Morgan Lane all went 2-for-3 and had two RBIs each for the Hornets.

Ella Grace Kelley led Wicksburg in Game 1, going 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and was 3-for-5 in Game 2. She was also named to the all-tournament team along with teammates Megan Cochran and Kylie Ann Barnes. Cochran was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs while Barnes went 3-for-4 and drove in five runs for the Panthers.

“It has been a heck of a ride,” Wicksburg head coach Josh Cox said. “I told people all year that I have never been a part of a softball team that had this much talent 1 through 18. I don’t mean 1 through 9. This is the hardest team I’ve ever had to make a lineup for. I told the girls all year that I love every one of them and I want to be every one of them out there.

“They fought all the way to the last out against a really good team that has been here numerous times. We were excited to be in this game. We haven’t been here since 2019 as a school. This is a big accomplishment, but we have a really young team.