October 8, 2022

Chloe Akin knew she had to make the difficult play. 

With two outs and a runner on third, Whitesboro smacked a line drive to center field. 

“I had no idea,” Akin, the outfielder from Stuart said about her assurance on catching the ball. “I was scared for my life.”

If the senior let the ball get by her, Whitesboro was most likely going to tie the game. So, instead, she dropped to her knees and slid underneath the ball, just getting her glove underneath it. When she realized she caught it, Akin laid face down in the grass.

In relief. In celebration. In amazement. 

The 58-year drought was over.

Akin’s catch helped secure Stuart’s 5-3 Class B state championship win over Whitesboro on Saturday. It’s Stuart’s (37-5) first fastpitch state championship since 1964 and second overall. 

“It’s a dream,” Stuart coach Chance Chapman said. “You see these guys win it year in and year out and you just think about what it would be like to be that team to celebrate on championship Saturday. The feeling is unbelievable.”

The final was filled with action as the teams combined to score in the first four innings of the game. 

Stuart got on top first as Haili Igor smacked an RBI single to center field to score Geralyn Haney. The Hornets struck again in the second when Maddie Lindley scored on a throwing error from second. In the third, Stuart loaded the bases with nobody out and Jadyn Dalton smashed a bases-clearing double to right-center to score three runs.

Whitesboro got on the board in the third as Linley Collins hit an RBI sac-fly to score Madison Grogan. The Bulldogs struck again in the fourth as Darah Cole hit an RBI double to score Kayleigh Walker. Whitesboro put its final run across in the seventh after Addison Walker knocked in Collins. 

But Akin’s catch in centerfield put everything to a halt. 

“She’s just a bulldog,” Chapman said of Akin. “When that ball was hit, I could tell it was going to be a tough play. When she made that slide and that grab. It was fitting.”

Stuart took down Kiowa 2-0 in the quarterfinal, Buffalo Valley 6-2 in the semifinal before topping Whitesboro en route to its first state championship in nearly 60 years.

“It’s insane,” Igor said. “I don’t even have words for it.”