AMG softball coach: Julie Brooker, GMC reap benefits of tough schedule

MILLEDGEVILLE -- Carrying the title of defending GHSA Class A public school champions, GMC already had high expectations entering the 2015 season. Add in a rigorous schedule, and the season was anything but a cakewalk for the Bulldogs.

And the Bulldogs and head coach Julie Brooker would not have preferred it any other way.

The rigor paid off for GMC, as the Bulldogs swept through the competition in the GHSA Class A public tournament, finishing with a record of 28-6 and another title.

"All along, that's what made us a good team. Kind of stepping up to that challenge. As a smaller school, you never really have much to lose going into competitive games," Brooker said. "And we were put into situations with our backs to the wall and seeing what we could do. This year, when the kids got to Columbus, they were ready to take care of business."

What's more is that the Bulldogs' senior class wrapped up with a four-year record of 108-27. At the helm for all four of the seasons has been Brooker.

"She always believed in all of us, she never asked for too much, she always just wanted us to give it our all," GMC catcher Kaylie Harding said of Brooker.

GMC's schedule was toughened partially by ­region alignment and also by way of taking on high-caliber competition.

Placed in Region 7-A, GMC is matched up against Macon-area schools formerly belonging to the GISA. The Bulldogs took on two of them during the regular season, losing early in the season to Tattnall Square before going on to defeat the Trojans and FPD to win the region tournament.

In fact, four of the five teams that GMC fell to advanced to the GHSA Elite Eight in Columbus. Gordon-Lee won the Class AA title, Morgan County was the Class AAA runner-up, and Greenbrier was within a game of playing for the Class AAAAA championship.

"We definitely had a hard season; those teams were definitely way better than what we saw in Columbus," Harding said. "When we got to Columbus, we kind of had to slow it down. Playing against them, it kind of prepared us for state."

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 9:00 PM with the headline "AMG softball coach: Julie Brooker, GMC reap benefits of tough schedule ."