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ECHS’ Giordano, Wingate grab North subregion softball honors
Ansleigh Giordano
Dual standout Ansleigh Giordano hit .427 and won nine games on the mound to lead Effingham County and earn the Class 5A Region 1 North Player of the Year honor. (Mark Lastinger for the Effingham Herald.)

By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald


Effingham County’s softball standout Ansleigh Giordano could beat you on the mound or at the plate – a daily double that she cashed in for Class 5A Region 1-North Player of the Year honors recently.

The voting of the subregion coaches could have been swayed by the junior’s .427 batting average, three home runs and 14 runs batted in or maybe her 9-3 record and 3.66 earned run average with 78 strikeouts in 91.2 innings.

“Ansleigh started slowly, but came on strong,” Rebels coach Brad Thompson said. “She’s a competitor. I’m glad we have her back for another year.”

Thompson will lose five girls who captured postseason honors, including Pitcher of the Year Ava Wingate, but have four coming back.

Giordano came up big for ECHS after notching consecutive pitching wins in Game 2 and Game 3 against Loganville in a Sweet Sixteen best-of-three series after the Rebels lost the first game.

In Columbus, she pitched a complete game in a 6-1 win against Seckinger and came back two days later to avenge a loss to South Effingham, 12-4.

Ava Wingate
Effingham County's Ava Wingate posted a 10-1 record with a 2.26 earned run average to capture the Class 5A Region 1 North Pitcher of the Year honor. (Mark Lastinger for the Effingham Herald.)
Wingate was 10-1 with a 2.26 ERA. She had a signature moment early in the regular season when she pitched a complete-game gem in a 2-1 victory over two-time state champion Appling County.

ECHS’ four-year double-play combination of shortstop Olivia Morgan and second baseman Megan Coleman will leave school as first-team performers together for the second straight year.

Morgan had a dramatic home run against South Effingham that tied the game in the seventh inning. She finished the year hitting .333 with a homer and 20 RBIs.

Coleman, who was selected to play in the recent Georgia Dugout’s All-State Classic, hit .337 and scored a team-leading 26 runs while hitting in the lead-off position.

Senior Jordan Tarver added a big bat in the lineup with five homers, 15 RBIs and a .324 batting average. 

Also making the first-team, all-subregion team were undergrads Gracie LaFleur and Shelby Zeigler. LaFleur, a junior catcher, led the Rebels with a .438 batting average and added four homers and 33 RBIs.

Zeigler, a junior first baseman, hit .333 with five homers and 20 RBIs.

While second-team all-region honors weren’t announced, Thompson said ECHS would have had two more players on second-team – Abbi Jones and Gabie Hill.

Jones, a senior, moved from first to third base to replace 2023 Player of the Year Emma Reynolds and excelled defensively while contributing two homers and 16 RBIs.

Hill, a sophomore, hit .242 while taking over the starting job in center field.

“Having nine on an (all-subregion) team is a lot, but it’s justified after we went undefeated in the subregion,” said Thompson, whose squad posted a 24-6 record, 10-0 in subregion play and placed fourth in the Class 5A softball championships in Columbus.