Baldwin 12U All-Stars win district, bound for state

Published 10:36 am Thursday, June 12, 2025

The Baldwin County 12U softball All-Stars shut down the competition to win their district tournament in Covington last weekend.

The BC girls won their three games by a combined score of 22-3 to punch their ticket to state, which is being held back at Covington’s Turner Lake softball complex this weekend.

The 11 young softball stars are Brooklyn Baxley, Charlotte Cummings, Rayven Faulkner, Kathryn January, Jorhdyn Johnson, Rylee Kate Mullis, Evie Pounds, Sawyer Grace Strickland, Sawyer Stubbs, Madison Tanner and Lola Whatley. The team is coached by Matt Stubbs, Howard Pounds, C.J. Baxley and Mason Seymour.

Pounds spoke with The Union-Recorder about what propelled the team to a district title and a shot at state.

“They’ve played rec ball together so many years,” he said. “There’s a lot of love and team spirit in the dugout. That’s what has gotten us to where we are.”

The BC girls’ perfect run through district fittingly began with a perfect game. Evie Pounds was on the rubber in the opener against Monroe County and sat opposing batters down in order in the first inning. Then again in the second. Then the third. The fourth. And the fifth. Meanwhile, the Baldwin bats were busy plating runs. Johnson came on in relief in the sixth and put together a 1-2-3 frame to close out the combined perfect game and 10-0 victory.

The next round was a slightly more competitive matchup against the Ola/Locust Grove All-Stars, which Baldwin won 10-3 to advance to the district finals. There they waited to see who would emerge from the losers’ bracket. The championship wound up being a rematch against that same Ola/Locust Grove team, which was out for revenge.

They would not get it. The game sat scoreless heading into Baldwin’s turn at the plate in the fourth. Small ball had been working for BC throughout the tourney and paid off one more time as a runner reached via bunt and eventually got over to third. Next to bat was Brooklyn Baxley, who sent a laser shot double into left-center to bring the go-ahead run across. Baxley came on home thanks to a double off the bat of Strickland. She was thrown out trying to stretch her hit into a triple, but the damage was already done. The 2-0 lead held and gave the Baldwin girls the crown.

“The support from the county was crazy,” Pounds said. “Pretty much all the Baldwin 8U girls and their families who were still there playing Sunday stayed behind to cheer us on. I think that really gave us something to feed off of in such a tight ballgame.”

The pitcher-catcher battery of Evie Pounds and Sawyer Stubbs had a strong weekend. Pounds struck out 24 batters and walked only one while surrendering just three runs across the three games.

Now, the Baldwin 12U softball All-Stars are looking ahead to their next challenge – the state tournament. They’ll look to keep their momentum rolling and try to earn a berth to the national tourney to be held in Louisiana later this summer.