A total of eight teams have clinched championship berths for the 2026 Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) baseball and softball championships by way of the sudden-death playoffs staged at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex on Wednesday.
The H.O. Nash Lions will have two teams contending for the titles.
The top-seeded Lions turned back the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves, 12-9, in their junior girls matchup to advance to the final.
On the other side of the bracket, it was a nail-biter between the second-seeded C.H. Reeves Raptors and the third-seeded D.W. Davis Royals. The Raptors snuck away with an 11-10 victory to advance.
The pennant-winning Lions’ junior boys will also be vying for championship hardware after defeating the fourth seeded Raptors 10-3 in their sudden-death playoff matchup.
The Lions will take on the second-seeded Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves. The latter edged the Royals 3-1 in the do-or-die playoffs.
In the senior division, the C.V. Bethel Stingrays turned some heads, with both their senior girls and boys pulling off upsets.
The fourth-seeded Stingrays’ senior boys handed the pennant-winning C.I. Gibson Rattlers a 9-2 loss in their playoff game.
Meanwhile, the Stingrays’ senior girls stunned the top-seeded Government High School (GHS) Magic Phoenix, 11-5.
The Stingrays senior girls will now go head-to-head with the third-seeded Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins, who defeated the second-seeded C.I. Gibson Lady Rattlers, 11-8.
The final result of the senior boys matchup between the second-seeded C.R. Walker Knights and the third-seeded Timberwolves was unavailable at press time.
Junior Division
The Lions never really gave the Raptors any chance of a comeback in the junior boys matchup.
It was a competitive game through the first inning, with H.O. Nash slightly ahead 2-1.
The Lions’ Taeo Miller jumped on the first pitch he saw and tripled to drive in a run. Allan Curry and Kymani Rolle also scored.
The team got hot in the second inning and piled on three more runs to extend the lead to 8-1 heading into the third inning.
Both teams went scoreless in the third, and the Raptors’ Deron Woodside doubled and then came home for a run.
Despite his late-game heroics, the Lions were firmly in charge, 10-2.
Miller ended the game with three runs scored and three RBIs (runs batted in).
Lions’ Head Coach Cherlindria Thompson commended her team’s focus in the victory.
“We are feeling confident,” she said. “The boys played pretty well today. They had minimum errors, and we really swung our bats, and we got on base, and we scored today, so they played very well. We are feeling confident and feeling pretty good.”
Coach Thompson outlined what the message will be to the team now that the group is headed to the big dance.
“The message to the team will be minimum errors, and when errors actually happen just recover quickly, letting things stay in the past, and continuing the game,” she said.
In the following game, the Timberwolves handled business against the Royals.
The Timberwolves’ Breon Rahming scored a run for the team on a throwing error to give his team a 1-0 lead.
The Royals’ Mario Etienne cracked an inside-the-park home run to center field and leveled the score at 1-1 at the top of the third inning, but Anatol would not be outdone.
Breon Rahming responded with a big hit and came home along with his brother Ramon Rahming to give the Timberwolves a 3-1 lead, and they held on to win.
Timberwolves’ Head Coach Alfonso Burrows was more than thrilled to see the baseball squad silence the doubters.
“It was pretty good,” Coach Burrows said. “Before the season started, a lot of teams doubted us. They looked at us at first and said we looked too small or that we don’t look intimidating, so the boys locked in all offseason and they came out here and they played. I feel like we have the best pitcher in the junior division and I feel like we have the best catcher in the junior division, so I’m pretty confident heading to the championship.”
Coach Burrows said the team is now looking forward to getting some revenge against the top-seeded Lions.
“We’ve been waiting on this for a year. They took us out of the playoffs last year and we had that feeling for a year. We’ve been praying for this, now we got it. We are ready.”
As mentioned, in the junior girls, the Lions turned back the Timberwolves, 12-9, and the Raptors defeated the Royals, 11-10.
Senior Division
The outing was back and forth between the GHS Magic Phoenix and the Stingrays’ senior girls.
The Stingrays got on the scoreboard early, and led 3-0 before GHS responded with two runs scored on errors.
A five-run second inning proved to be the difference-maker for the Stingrays, and they remained on top (8-4) heading into the third.
The bats went cold for GHS and then the Stingrays’ defense tightened up down the stretch.
Stingrays’ Head Coach Brad Wood said the team is now looking to go all the way.
“This was an excellent game today,” Coach Wood said. “What happened is, I think they underestimated us after having such an awesome regular season. They came over here kind of flat, but my girls were so aggressive today, and that’s why we got the victory. We are trying to win this whole thing — for the last three years in a row now. We gotta take this. We gotta carry this back to Stingrays country.”
As mentioned, in the other senior girls sudden death game, the Mystic Marlins defeated the Lady Rattlers, 11-8.
In the senior boys division, the Stingrays beat the Rattlers, 9-2, and the result of the other game between the Knights and the Timberwolves was unavailable at press time.
The championship games will commence on Friday at 4 p.m. at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex.
