Three-peat: Hallie Burns, Booneville storm past West Marion 7-4 to clinch 2023 MHSAA Softball Championship

Burns, an Ole Miss signee, overcame some adversity and a bad back to put the Lady Devils over the top

HATTIESBURG — No team could stop Booneville ace Hallie Burns, and neither could an aching back.

Burns, the Ole Miss commit and Booneville senior, put an exclamation mark on one of the most decorated high school careers in recent memory with an 11-strikeout performance to help the Lady Devils clinch a 7-4 win and a series sweep over West Marion in the MHSAA Class 3A State Championship Thursday afternoon at the USM Softball Complex.

“Nothing surprises me with her anymore,” Booneville coach Jessica Taylor said. “She’s an incredible player and an even better person.”

It was the third fast-pitch championship in a row for Booneville (28-9) and the third in school history.

Burns, who earned MVP honors for the second year in a row, was visibly hobbled by the nagging pain.

After cruising through the first three innings, she ran into trouble in the fourth when West Marion put runners on first and third after a hit-by-pitch, a stolen base and a single.

The Lady Trojans (30-9) scored one run on a squeeze bunt, and another when an outside pitch glanced off catcher Kyra King’s glove for a passed ball.

Burns started to run home to cover the plate, but pulled up half way.

“Something just slipped and it started hurting,” Burns said. “When it happens, it feels like someone is twisting a knife in my left hip. It bothered me the rest of the game today.”

But Burns stayed in, and pitched well enough down the stretch. She struck out 11 batters in six innings, walking one batter and allowing two earned runs on four hits.

The Booneville offense finally got cranked up in the sixth inning, after the defending champs had dug a 3-1 hole.

With no outs and the bases loaded with Lady Devils, Olivia Garrett provided a sac fly, and Maddix Lambert drove in a couple of runs with a single to left field. Shaylea King followed with an RBI single and came around to score on a wild pitch, and Greenly Hodges singled in a run with a liner to right field.

When the dust finally settled, the Lady Devils had plated six runs and taken a commanding 7-3 lead.

It was a huge relief for Burns and the Booneville defense, which had shown the effects of the pressure of the tight game with three errors.

When it came time to go back out to pitch the seventh and final inning, Burns had an honest one-on-one with her coach.

“I told her (Garrett) was our best option,” Burns said. “That sixth inning, I wasn’t pitching well. I didn’t have anything but the fastball.”

And just like that, Burns took herself out of her final high school softball game.

“That’s just who she is,” Taylor said. “She wants to win, and it doesn’t matter whether she’s the star or not. She wasn’t going to go out there at all, but I put her at third base because I wanted her on the field.”

That worked out perfect, as the final batter hit a hard ground ball right at Burns, who fielded it cleanly and flipped it to first for the assist on the out that clinched the championship.

That set off a wild celebration for Booneville, which hadn’t won a fast-pitch state championship before 2020 and has since won three.

For two-sport athletes like Burns, it was the fifth state championship in three years, counting the last two basketball state titles.

“These girls are just special,” Taylor said. “You don’t have to worry about being in the classroom or them making bad grades. You don’t have to worry about where they are on Friday or Saturday night. They are living their lives the right way, and when you do that, it just carries over onto the field, court and diamond.”

As exciting as the win was for Booneville, it was just as disappointing for West Marion. The Lady Trojans picked up four runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk off of Burns, which was more than any other team that had faced her in her five career Championship Series starts.

“We did a good job of putting the pressure on them defensively,” West Marion coach Charles Odom said. “And that was the plan. We knew (Burns) wasn’t at 100 percent, and we were thinking we might could get to her. But what a gutsy performance by her. Sometimes you just have to tip your cap. But I couldn’t be prouder of the way our girls fought to the end and never gave up.”