Orange Beach High School sophomore pitcher K.J. Favors lost her bid for a no-hitter in the AHSAA 2023 Class 4A State Softball Championship finals Saturday afternoon when lead-off hitter Mary Suzan Aman of Houston Academy ripped a single up the middle to open the game.

The chance for a perfect game might have been gone, but the chance for team perfection was still within her reach. Favors tossed a one-hitter as the Makos downed Houston Academy 5-0 in the finals to capture the school’s third straight state softball crown in the three years the school has competed in championship play.

“They seem like they get harder, the expectations are always there,” Orange Beach coach Shane Alexander said. “They aren’t just going to drive to Oxford and let you pick up the trophy. You have to work. These girls work.

“We talked about at the start of the year about creating a lasting legacy. I think a three-peat has only been done eight times. I told them if you want to talk about creating a legacy, then three-peat. That’s tough. I don’t care what classification we are in.”

RELATED: Rewinding Saturday’s softball action

Orange Beach (46-10-1) scored at least one run in each of the first four innings and Favors allowed only two batters to reach first base the rest of the way as the Makos swept through the 4A competition undefeated.

The championship game was moved from Oxford’s Choccolocco Park to beat the rain that had been predicted to invade the softball park at 5 p.m. – when the finals were supposed to start.

Instead, the Makos headed to Jacksonville State University’s Jana McGinnis Stadium and waited on the outcome of the Class 4A elimination bracket finals. Brooks beat Curry 6-5 in a game moved to Saturday morning from Friday’s schedule, and Houston Academy then downed Brooks 10-3 in the elimination bracket finals.

The Raiders (47-9) won the Class 3A state championship in in 2022. Playing in 4A for the first time this season, Houston Academy headed to JSU after the Brooks win Saturday for the showdown with the Makos – the Class 2A state champions in 2021 and 2022. Both teams moved to Class 4A this season.

“These girls play 6A teams, 7A teams,” Alexander said. “We’ll play anybody. Houston Academy is a scrappy, really good team. We don’t care. We didn’t say, ‘We wish we were in 2A or 3A or whatever.’ It is what it is so let’s go play.”

Orange Beach was just too powerful in the finals. Favors only faced 24 batters allowing the one hit, walked two and struck out four to earn MVP honors.

Freshman Teagan Revette singled in lead-off hitter Daigle Wilson, the Makos’ sophomore shortstop, in the bottom of the first inning. The 1-0 lead stretched to 3-0 in the second inning when junior Falyn Beebe and freshman Addy Oldham, batting eighth and ninth in the Orange Beach lineup, socked back-to-back triples.

Eighth grader L.C. Robbins followed in the third frame with a towering solo homer in the third inning, for the fourth Makos’ run, and catcher Ava Hodo, a freshman, drove in another run with a triple in fourth frame.

Robbins and Oldman finished with two hits while Wilson reached based all four times – with a single, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. She also stole two bases and scored twice. Alexander’s young team has every reason to be excited about next year. With only one senior on the roster, the young team has a chance to leave a legacy like no other “new” school has ever done.

Emily Maddox started in the circle for Houston Academy and yielded six hits and three runs. The Raiders got a strong pitching performance from reliever Emily Adams, who hurled the final 4.2 innings allowing just two hits, two runs and striking out four.

Joining Favors on the Class 4A All-State Tourney team were Orange Beach teammates Revette and Robbins, and Houston Academy’s Aman, Adams, and Ansleigh Smith.