There are five states that play their high school softball in the fall including Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia which is arguably the most significant of these states. 

Line Drive Softball has launched a 12-week series covering prep play in the Peach State led by Steve Hickey under the title of Road to Columbus, tracking the pathway to the state championships in Columbus, Ga.

Here’s our third of the series which today spotlights Gordon Lee High, a powerhouse Georgia high school softball which has won 12 State Championships.

Click on the following links to access previous articles:

• Week 2: August 17, 2025

• Week 1: August 10, 2025

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Softball, as it turns out, is not simply girls’ baseball… it has its own unique pace, distances, dugout life, rules, expectations, and holy grounds.

What Cooperstown and Williamsport are to baseball, Oklahoma City and Columbus, Georgia are to softball.

Originally made to host the 1996 Olympics, South Commons, Columbus features six fields plus a stadium that has seating capacity of 2,500.  Often, fans from Fields 5 and 6 will climb up to the top bleacher and watch those games unfold.  

The state tournament is a four-day jubilee with each of the eight classifications battling out an eight-team double elimination tournament to crown its champion.

Up to 72 games may be played over the course of all the days and all the classifications.  It is a war of attrition with so much emotion expended and so much energy burned.

It is a miracle that fans, players, umpires, organizers, and grounds crews can hang on and keep pressing forward to Championship Saturday.  

Even the most seasoned coaches and journalists confess that they do not see this anywhere else.

Everyone in the park is two degrees of separation from someone else in their travel alter egos, and there is always a game that catches your fascination.

For many of the players, it is the first time they have played in front of a packed, true partisan crowd, and these will be the most attended games they will ever play in, possibly even including college. 

Each year, the trip down this road reveals the depth of Georgia High School competition – highlighting that there remains much to learn about these programs, players, and coaches.

A quick review of the eight classifications over the past five years reveals that this is no accidental tourist stop. In fact, it is better described as an oligarchy and those that know, know.

In each of the past five years, at least four teams from each designation are the same and have come every year.

It is not perfect math: GHSA has shuffled its classification system twice over this period so teams like Buford and East Coweta showed up in 7A for four years, and then last year were 6A representatives. 

Teams like Wesleyan and Gordon Lee have been moved up and down in 3A, 2A, and 1A, and it does not matter. They know how to win and have remained fixtures in Columbus during all five years.

Despite what seems to be the best efforts of organizers and determination of other teams, their trophy cases are filthy with championships. 

But, if 50 percent of each classification is on lock down from year to year, how do you punch through? How can so few programs maintain a firm chokehold on reservations to Columbus and maintain this level of excellence?   

This week’s installment is to pull the curtain back on perhaps the state’s best kept secret: Who is Gordon Lee? 

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Where in the World is Gordon Lee? 

Gordon Lee is located in the foothills of North Georgia, a ground rule double from Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Gordon Lee is a classic border town with as many cultural ties and shared interests to the west with Alabama, and the north with Tennessee as it does with its home state of Georgia. 

I tracked down Coach Dana Mulls to get some of her time and wanted to learn about Gordon Lee’s softball program.

Coach Mulls looks like she would still get carded for beer.  My sources must be wrong, I thought, as there is no way this is the 2^nd all-time active winningest coach in the state with over 650 wins and counting. 

Winning is a young person’s game, or maybe winning keeps you young. 

Regardless, Coach Dana’s teams have standing reservations in Columbus at the end of October.  After 12 State Championships, I’m sure she has connections to get champagne by the case and doesn’t worry about getting carded. 

Throughout our meeting, her humility came through and she constantly spoke of her former players and current players carrying the water and chopping the wood. 

“Coach,” I asked, “how did you transform Gordon Lee into a perennial power?” 

She credits the parents, fans, and administration’s support over these years.  Softball is not a sport just for girls without lake houses, looking for a way to fill their weekends. 

Coach Mulls says:

“It has to be a priority and it requires time and resources.  If you are not doing it, then someone else is.” 

Gordon Lee has stepped up and built out an indoor batting facility that allows the players to hit every single day. 

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How it Started 

Dana is a local kid to Chickamauga in North Georgia.  She went to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and played under Karen and Ralph Weekly. 

She stayed at UTC after graduating but didn’t stay long before the phone rang and mama was calling.  The Gordon Lee head coach position was available, and she came home. 

That first year, the team fell in the championship game.  No one thought that making it that far was even possible in Year 1.  Now, almost 22 years later, the doubts are different, but they remain. 

No one thought that 12 State Championships were possible, and how many more can there be? 

I keep hearing the same feedback, and Coach Mulls is no exception:

“We have to schedule tough tests,” she says. “I have to see the team under pressure and in failing situations before it matters.”   

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How Georgia is A Unicorn 

As the summer heat begins to break, Georgia prep softball makes its own weather. 

In-state schools like UGA, Georgia Tech, and Georgia Southern try to retain as much Peach State talent as they can, but the state also does a great job of supplying Kennesaw State, Mercer, Berry, Georgia State, and Georgia College and State talent as well. 

Out-of-state schools like Clemson, Auburn, Alabama, and Tennessee are attracted to the rich offerings as well.  A quick survey of current Power 4 rosters shows Georgia kids in places as diverse as Virginia, Oregon, Oklahoma, and UCLA. 

If you ain’t pulling a Georgia player, you ain’t trying. 

However, getting everyone on the same page is not always easy.  The GHSA season presents an awkward scheduling conflict for the college recruiting cycle.  It is not the college coaches’ fault, as out-of-state coaches must be reminded of the timing of the prep season for Georgia. 

Considering most colleges recruit off travel ball, it is understandable. 

It is not a coincidence that the weight and rigor of the recruiting cycle impact the production specific to the junior class across the state.  There are many variables that creep into the dugout – camps, visits, dugout discussions of who’s who and which schools are calling. 

Watching junior players in high school competition during this process is akin to a dresser drawer opening and closing with too many socks in it.  It is a lot harder than it looks… after the September 1^st contact period, it becomes a lot.   

How much is this weight and exactly what is the toll on the players? And families? Inside the dugout, and at home? 

Coach Mulls is proud that her players handle it very well; the “Team First” motto at Gordon Lee is more than just a platitude.  Her girls never prioritize camps or visits above her team’s games. 

It’s a choice that is not consistent across all dugouts. 

In fact, she recalled last season, as Gordon Lee was hosting a weekend round robin tournament, the other team was missing their best player as she was off on an official visit.  Gordon Lee typically does not need any help dispatching opponents and it did not end well for the other team that day. 

A common theme from many players and coaches is to over communicate and manage expectations.  The concurrent recruiting process should be fun, and no major decisions should be forced or made in the heat of the moment.  This is why most Georgia players wait to announce their commitment decisions until after their prep season is complete. 

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Current Season 

Gordon Lee is coming off a hard-fought bookend week falling to East Coweta 6-0 and Buford 7-1.  In a nutshell, this represents the epitome of her scheduling philosophy – putting her team into tough situations and letting them develop through the course of the season. 

Now, it is time to learn and develop from those tests and demonstrate it on the field against their remaining schedule which include region foes as well as teams in Marist and Dade Counties which look to be formidable tests. 

Coach Dana has a humble confidence in her returning pitching, that she thinks can keep them in any game.  She has returning front line starting pitching headed by Abby Logan, a rising senior, who is a Lee University commit, and there is confidence that she can squash Columbus firepower. 

Coach Mull’s daughter, Riley Mull, is now a sophomore, and her coach believes her ready to contribute to the family business.    

She has noticed the demands of the travel ball schedule bookends the GHSA season.  Players come directly back from PGF and Alliance National tournaments and will often play their first game the following week. 

Then, as November approached, travel coaches also get real twitchy about getting their players back from high school ball and Columbus, so they may staff full rosters at Scenic City or Texas tournaments in early November. 

It is a good problem to have, not to be able to count on your high school girls freeing up until after Halloween.  Coach Mulls is familiar with this tug of war due to the proximity and number of players that have played with the Frost Falcons club. 

Coach Mull believes that:

“Travel is vital for these players to develop and be successful at high school and beyond.  You just need to work with each player and have open conversations about how to fit all the moving parts together.” 

As we wrapped up our visit, she looks forward to this year’s challenge. 

“I really like this year’s team.  Each year, our standards remain the same, but the way the players and the team show up is unique to that team.  And once the season is over, that team will never be again.”   

It is 218 miles from Gordon Lee to South Commons, Columbus, Georgia.  She knows the route very well.  With all of its pitfalls and distractions, she knows how to handle them all.   

“We will see you in Columbus!” 

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Updates from Across the State  

• East Coweta (6 A defending Champion) continued its scorched Earth march last week going 4-0 from the Georgia Dugout Club Leadoff Classic.  The Classic is a made for TV round robin, including some of the state’s hungriest teams across all designations, unfortunately, without the TV.  Gamechanger aficionados rejoiced. 
• An emerging trend that is being noticed is the gate charge for these high school programs.  It is a program-boosting revenue source, and by the judge of the crowd sizes, it is not discouraging attendance.   
• Some notable records from the Classic, Strong Rock Christian went 3-1 and Tattnall Square went 2-1, both Georgia Independent Schools that can crossover (we will profile GISA later in the season).
• Potential Columbus-bound teams Kell, 2-0, and Mount Paran Christian struggled against far larger schools, going 0-3. Regardless, a great slate of matchups for the die-hard fans.
• As East Coweta primes their sights on Buford in continuation of their five-year civil war, it seems that every school “on the come” tries to schedule them for Power Ranking and street credibility. 

— Steve Hickey for Line Drive Softball