RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
Franklin DeLoach has been the head softball coach at East Coweta High in Sharpsburg, Georgia for 20 years and has built a dynasty as his Lady Indians have won 15 region championships and been to the state playoffs all 20 years with eight Final Four finishes and three state titles: 2017, 2018 and 2020.
In 2017, the softball team won the AAAAAAA State Championship by going an unprecedented 36-0 and in 2018 the Lady Indians went 32-2 and won the state’s highest classification, becoming back-to-back state champions.
This year the Lady Indians won their third state championship in the state’s largest classification (7A) going 36-2 and won a thrilling 2-1 nail-biter over North Gwinnett High in October in Columbus, Georgia.
The third title in four years was all the more impressive because East Coweta lost eight to graduation from last year as well as another player out with a season-ending injury. This fall, the team was never ranked #1… until winning the title, of course!
“I like to think of it as a ‘Blue Collar State Championship,’” Coach DeLoach jokes.
Leading the charge was the senior class comprised of 10 standouts—all of whom will go on to play at the collegiate level.
“The 2021 class all brought something to the table in the manner of ‘What can I do today to help my team be successful?’” DeLoach continues. “The legacy of this team overall will be not in their stats and the overall record but was how they were strong and gritty between the ears. That all started with the seniors.”
The seniors compiled an amazing 137-6 four-year record in addition to the trio of State Titles and two National Championships.
“I think of those who took on roles,” explains their coach, “where they had limited play but they willingly took on their roles. There were those who ‘worked while they waited,’ where on any given day—from one day to the next—it was another player getting it done.”
The coach adds: “It wasn’t a case of having one All-American kid that we’d wait on to bail us out, at any time it’s be this girl and that one and the next day it’s be two more. That doesn’t happen unless you’re strong between the ears and these seniors will always be known as tough with the mindset of ‘What can I do to help the team?’ That will take them far in life and not just softball.
On November 11th, 2020 all 10 seniors signed their National Letters of Intent to continue their softball careers at the collegiate level. Impressively, the 10 have a combined GPA of 93.40 and explains outfielder Kenadie Cooper, “Almost all of us have played travel ball and rec ball at one time or another with each other since coach pitch (seven of the 10 play for the East Cobb Bullets organization).”
“Five of the senior class—me, Olivia Cook, Ashleigh Griffin, Eliza Kuhne and Kylie Fegurson—played through middle school together and were undefeated for three years! Many of us have also played basketball and ran track with or against each other growing up.”
*** Scroll down to meet each of the “Perfect Ten” seniors with comments on them by Coach DeLoach and what several players thought of their softball careers playing for the Lady Indians!