Starr's Mill captured the GHSA Class 4A state championship. (Special Photo by Starr's Mill High School)
GHSA Class 4A State Championship Series: Starr's Mill goes out on top
ROME -- Max Prozny speared a liner for the final out, then the celebration started.
Starr's Mill swept a pair of games from preseason favorite Cherokee Bluff Monday night at AdventHealth Stadium to capture the Georgia High School Association's Class 4A state baseball championship. It is the Panthers' second state championship in four years. Starr's Mill's 2024 version joined the 2021 team as state champions.
The doubleheader had been rescheduled from Saturday when heavy rain moved through the area at game time and left the field unplayable. But Starr's Mill (33-2) wasn't fazed by moving the best-of-three series to Monday.
After drilling the Bears 11-1 in six innings in Game 1, Starr's Mill used a dominant pitching outing from starter Kyle Rudolph and Brock Rein in Game 2. The duo allowed just a run on four hits to help the Panthers win the nail-biter and claim the title.
Cherokee Bluff (31-7) threatened in the bottom of the seventh, getting a one-out double from Bubba Coleman and a single from Caleb Davis to put the runners at first and second base. However, Rein got a strikeout, then a liner that Prozny caught to end the game -- and the series.
Ethan England's RBI single in the first inning of Game 2 gave the Bears a 1-0 lead. However, Drew Richardson's RBI double in the second inning tied the game, then Austin Sellers' RBI double in the fourth scored Bo Walker and gave the Panthers all the runs they needed as Rudolph and Rein combined to shut down a potent Cherokee Bluff offense.
In Game 1 after Cherokee Bluff took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Starr's Mill scored three runs in the bottom of the second and took the lead for good. A seven-run fifth inning helped the Panthers build an insurmountable lead. The biggest blow was a bases-clearing triple by Heath Whitlock.