By Brandon Sumrall | Special to the Advertiser

Isabella’s 2015 softball team became the first squad in school history to play in a state championship game in any sport.

The Mustangs advanced to the final round of the Class 1A state tournament with an 11-3 win Friday over Athens Bible at Lagoon Park in Montgomery. They then fell to eventual state champion Brantley, 10-0, but players, coaches and fans could still go home with their heads held high, knowing that the team made history.

The path to the championship game was no easy task for the Mustangs (25-13) as an opening round 4-0 win over Ragland moved IHS into a second-round winners bracket game with Brantley, which got the better end of the first meeting between the two schools with a 6-0 win that knocked the Mustangs into the losers side of the tournament bracket.

One more loss would have sent Isabella home from the double-elimination tournament, but the Mustangs found a way to win time and again.

After taking a 7-5 lead into the fifth inning against Pleasant Home on Thursday night, rain delayed the game to an 8 a.m. start Friday morning. The Mustangs tacked on two more runs in the game for a 9-5 win that advanced them on to the quarterfinals.

Spring Garden was the next foe standing in the way of the Mustangs, but with a 5-3 win, Isabella kept marching on.

Athens Bible knocked off Billingsley but then fell to Brantley in a semifinal game that sent the Trojans into an elimination game against Isabella.

With four games under her belt already on the weekend, the Mustangs looked to their workhorse Chelsea Cox on the mound once again with a berth in the championship round on the line.

A single and a ground-rule double in the bottom of the first gave the Trojans a 2-0 lead, but a Kacie Adams leadoff single in the top of the second inning set up a run-scoring single by Jayda Jones to draw the Mustangs to within one run of the lead after two innings of play.

Back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases for Isabella in the top of the third, and thanks in no small part to a run-scoring single by Cox along with a two-run double by Jones, the Mustangs reeled off five runs in the inning to take a 6-2 lead.

The Trojans added one more in the home half of the third to bring the score to 6-3 in favor of Isabella.

A leadoff walk by Victoria Fletcher set up a run-scoring triple by Haley Underwood, and a sacrifice fly to left field by Adams increased the Mustangs’ lead six, 8-2.

Three more IHS runs in the top of the sixth inning sealed the fate of the Trojans while giving the Mustangs an 11-2 win and a rematch against the Bulldogs for the state title.

Cox pitched seven innings against the Trojans, allowing one earned run on five hits and two walks while striking out five.

Jones led Isabella at the plate with a 4-for-4 performance with two doubles and four runs batted in.

After just 10 minutes of rest, the Mustangs began play against the Bulldogs and went quietly though the top of the first inning.

Olivia Jones started the bottom of the first off with a single that set up a run-scoring ground ball to give Brantley an early 1-0 lead.

A two-out walk by Isabella’s Noelle Fjeldstad in the second did little to help the Mustangs’ cause as a ground ball back to the pitcher ended the top of the second.