Battle Creek -- Junior Jackie Bowe was as close to perfection as a pitcher can be on June 14, striking out a record 18 batters to lead No. 3-ranked Galesburg-Augusta to a 5-0 win over No. 1 Allen Park Cabrini to claim their first Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 3 Championship at Bailey Park.

 

   Bowe was coming off an amazing 14-inning, one-hit, 29-strikeout performance in a 3-0 semifinal win against Gladstone on June 13. Despite pitching the equivalent of two games the day before, Bowe opened the final with 10 straight strikeouts.

 

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   "I think I came out harder than I did yesterday," Bowe said. "That adrenaline really pumps you up, and our whole team came out with that after the 14-inning game."

 

   The Rams opened the scoring in the as senior Paige Paus scored on a single by sophomore Amber Born to take the lead 1-0.

 

   They broke it open in the third. Bowe doubled to start the inning. Senior Mallory Schug singled to put runners on first and third. Sophomore Alyssa Foy walked to load the bases. Senior Ali Dawson doubled in all three runners to give the Rams a commanding 4-0 lead.

 

   Galesburg-Augusta added an insurance run in the fourth as Born scored on a single by Foy.

 

   Bowe was near flawless on the mound, carrying a perfect game into the final inning before Michigan-bound Amanda Chidester ended the bid with a line-drive single with two outs in the seventh.

 

   "She is one of the best we've seen," said Cabrini Head Coach Debbie Norman. "It's hard to score any runs when you can't get on base. They have some great hitters, so that hurts when you put them on."

 

   Senior standout Katie Osburn finished with nine strikeouts for Cabrini. Osburn was elected as Miss. Softball for the 2008 season. Osburn had led Cabrini (37-3-1) to two straight Division 4 championships before moving up to Division 3 this season.

 

   It was the second state final this school year for Galesburg-Augusta. The girls basketball team reached the Class C state championship game.

 

   "We had our basketball team go to state finals, in which they lost, and we have seven players on the team that were there," said Head Coach Ed Bowe (Jackie's father). "So, we really wanted to take it home for them. It says a lot about our school to go to two state finals in one year."

 

   The Bowes missed the team celebration after the game, as they  had to catch a flight for Kansas City for Jackie to play in a tournament with her Beverly (Chicago) Bandits 18-and-under travel team.

 

   "My (Galesburg-Augusta) team's going to be out celebrating, and I'm going to miss it,'' she said. ``But, you know, that's how it goes.''

 

   Bowe has already committed to play at Notre Dame. She finished the season with a 35-3 record, 0.21 ERA, eight no-hitters, one perfect game, 39 hits allowed in 237 2/3 innings, and an amazing 533 strikeouts (putting her sixth on the state's all-time list).

 

   Bowe and the Rams allowed only one run allowed in the seven-game run for the championship, and that run was unearned.