GUYTON, Ga. — “Win two before you lose two” is a simple approach South Effingham took into the Class 6A softball state championships Wednesday.
And these days, the Mustangs are making the simple look, well, pretty easy.
The Class 6A top-ranked squad run-ruled Greenbrier twice, winning 13-0 and 11-0 to sweep its first-round best-of-three series, 2-0, and advance to the Sweet Sixteen against Coffee High School next Wednesday in Guyton.
South (26-2) extended its school-record winning streak to 21 games in dominating fashion, winning the opener in four innings before scoring nine runs in the first inning of Game 2.
“It’s a really good run. At this time of the year, you’re just trying to win games. You want to win two before you lose two, and we did that,” Mustangs coach Adam Newland said.
South hasn’t lost in nearly two months, dating to an 11-6 loss to Richmond Hill on Aug. 20. In their last nine games, the Mustangs have shut out their opponents eight times while outscoring South Effingham’s Alyssa Martin (left) and Cheniyah Jackson helped the top-ranked Mustangs sweep Greenbrier in the first round of the Class 6A state playoffs Wednesday. Jackson pitched a shutout in the 13-0 Game 1 victory as South extended its school-record winning streak to 21 games.them — and this isn’t a misprint — 108-1.
A familiar result
Greenbrier, a fellow Region 1-6A member, had already faced South twice during the regular season and lost both games. In the second meeting, the Mustangs scored 16 runs in the fourth inning, hit eight home runs and won 20-1.
Wednesday’s matchup followed a similar script. Cheniyah Jackson pitched a shutout, and Justine Nevels smacked a two-run homer to highlight the Game 1 victory.
If the Wolfpack thought Game 2 would be different, that hope was quickly extinguished by the Mustangs’ nine-run first inning.
Freshman Kendall Ward pitched the five-inning shutout and helped her own cause with a three-run homer.
“We needed to start fast because the danger is to take your foot off the gas after a Game 1 like that,” Newland said. “To the kids’ credit, they really came out and put the hammer down. That was the exact start we wanted.”
Staying focused
It was exactly the kind of start Newland and his players wanted as they began the state playoffs. The Mustangs, who advanced to the finals in Columbus last season, had cleared their first hurdle in 2026: overconfidence.
“It was something we talked about with the kids the entire week,” Newland said. “All that matters is this series. Whatever happened before does not matter. Whatever we think is coming after, that doesn’t matter either. All that matters is playing our best right here, right no
