Amazing Makos tie record with 5th consecutive AHSAA state softball championship

Amazing Makos tie record with 5th consecutive AHSAA state softball championship

The Orange Beach High School softball team tied a state record during their spring run to a fifth consecutive the Alabama state softball championship – two in a row in Class 2A and the last three in Class 4A. Pisgah won five consecutive titles from 2001-2005.
Every season the team has been in existence has ended with a state championship. That is beyond amazing. So is their 48-2 record this spring.
The defending MaxPrep national champions scored four runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning and never looked back to take the 9-2 win over the Curry Yellow Jackets in Oxford. It was the Makos’ 18th consecutive win.
This year’s championship run was particularly special, as it was led by the team’s four seniors, all of whom are committed to playing at the next level. Daigle Wilson will play at Auburn. Kaylee Grace “KG” Favors will play at South Carolina. Kaitlynn Robertson will play at Louisiana Christian. And Justine Henderson will play at The University of Mobile.
In the title game, Favors threw a complete game, allowing five hits, walking five and striking out four. Robertson and Wilson both logged hits and Henderson scored a run for Orange Beach. Jayde Palmer added two hits and three RBIs, and Teagan Revette drove in two runs in the final.
Freshman Miley McMullan paired with Favors to form a lethal 1-2 punch on the mound for the Makos during the regular season, going 12-1 with a 1.04 ERA and 72 strikeouts. So, the future is also bright.
Wilson could not play in last year’s championship game after taking a ground ball to the face in the winners’ bracket final. This year, she batted 5-for-14 scored seven runs in this year’s tourney.
“We talked about it all year that, you know, this journey of this season, it’s like you’re writing a book. Each game is a chapter. We’re about to write that last chapter. Each of you is going to have a page in that chapter. How is this book going to end? So I think the book ended the right way on a high note. So, yeah, it’s kind of sad, but very proud for those four seniors,” Orange Beach coach Shane Alexander said.
Currently ranked no. 3 in the nation by MaxPrep, the Makos defeated five top 20 nationally ranked teams this spring, including 15th ranked Curry in the final. The team launched 72 home runs during the season and continued that output in the play-offs, outscoring their opponents by a combined 96–5 in the post season.
Some Other Amazing Mako Stats:
• They led the country in most runs scored.
• They scored 512 runs and only allowed 56.
• They led the country in RBI with 461.
• The 72 home runs was fourth best in the country.
• The team batting average was .429.
• The team had 23 shutouts.
• Their fielding percentage was 96 percent.
• They had 138 stolen bases.
• They beat five of the top 20 teams in the country.
Ava Hodo, then a seventh-grader, helped start the streak with a dramatic game-winning homer to give the upstart Makos a state softball championship in the school’s first year of existence back in 2021.
Since then, Hodo has played her way into being MaxPrep’s No. 1-ranked national recruit in the Class of 2026, and Orange Beach High School has become the gold standard of Alabama high school softball.
“It’s a grind from January until now,” Coach Alexander said. “To see all of the hard work pay off, it makes you realize it’s all worth it.”
The state final was tied at two after four innings when Orange Beach junior Katie King, who has already committed to Arkansas, made the play of the game.
After delivering a two-out single, King stole second. She sprinted to third on an errant throw, and Alexander motioned her home from the third base box for the go-ahead run.
“She was going to have to throw a bullet to get her out,” Alexander said.
That play was one of the reasons King won the tourney’s MVP trophy, as she went 9-for-14 (.642) at the plate, including a home run and two doubles. She also had 3 RBIs and 5 runs scored.
“I kept on going, no hesitation,” said King, who added that she couldn’t remember scoring from first on a stolen base before.
Orange Beach scored three more runs in the fifth inning and three insurance runs in the sixth.
“The bigger the game, the better they play,” Alexander said. “It’s that Mako grit.”
Curry (54-5) lost 7-3 to Alexandria in a first-round game Wednesday and then won elimination games against West Blocton, Hamilton, Alexandria and Satsuma to advance to the championship.
The Makos beat West Brockton 15-0, Alexandria 3-0 and Satsuma 13-0 in Oxford to earn their slot in the championship game.
Alexander called winning a fifth straight state title a “full circle moment,” noting that Orange Beach defeated Pisgah to win the first title in 2021. He said it was noteworthy that Pisgah was the last school in AHSAA history to win five straight softball titles.
The team bus was escorted back into Orange Beach by the OBPD a day after winning the title and the girls were again honored during a May 19 ceremony at the Orange Beach Performing Arts Center.
“You realize you’re going to get everybody’s best pitcher, you’re going to get everybody’s best game,” Alexander said. “They thrive on that. I think the bigger the game, the better they play. It’s just that competitive Mako grit we say they have.”
“I don’t think people understand all the hard work these girls put in,’’ he added. “To see it pay off at the end, that’s what makes me so happy. It was worth all the pressure, the bullseye on your back. The girls handled it all and took care of business. So, yeah, it was very, very gratifying to see that pay off for them. I couldn’t be more proud of this group.”
“Our team chemistry has always been really strong since our first year. I think that’s honestly what helped us win it,’’ said Daigle, the Auburn signee. “We were so close and we loved each other.
“I think we’ll always be in touch. We’ve always been best friends and the bond that we all have isn’t just on the softball field. We’re all best friends and so we just love each other and we’ll always stay connected.
“This is my favorite place,” she added. “I love these people, I love Orange Beach softball. I never want to leave. I wish I could be here forever.”