ROWLAND — After losing several eighth-graders from last year’s championship group, the South Robeson Intermediate softball team had a different look this spring. But it had a talented pitcher and a motivated bunch, two things that can go a long way.

South Robeson beat Pembroke Middle 12-2 in five innings Monday, completing an undefeated season to win the Robeson County middle school championship for the second straight season.

“It’s a little bit sweeter this time, because we weren’t supposed to be here,” South Robeson coach Kevin Chavis said. “Everybody put us on the back burner, because we lost so much last year, but I felt like as long as we had Cecelia (Chavis) on the mound we had a chance. And then the team just continued to come together, the more we practiced, the better they got on defense, the better they hit; it was just a team effort.”

CeCe Chavis allowed just one hit with no earned runs and seven strikeouts over five innings pitched to help lead the Mustangs (13-0) to the title.

“It just felt really good, because last year I wanted to do it for our (eighth-graders); this year, since I’m leaving South Rob, I wanted to do it not only for me but for the rest of the girls that’s leaving, and I wanted to make sure we won one last game,” she said. “I think what mostly went well for me was to be working around the corners of the plate, and my catcher helping me a lot and my defense backing me up.”

“She’s put in the work,” said Kevin Chavis, who is CeCe’s father. “She takes pitching lessons three times a week. She goes to practice and then does pitching and hitting lessons, so I feel like the hard work is finally paying off. Everybody else is knowing what I already knew — that she’s going to be special. She still has a long way to go, but we’re ready for the next level at high school, to see how she continues. I think Fairmont next year is getting a pretty good ballplayer.”

CeCe Chavis was also a leader at the plate for the Mustangs, with two hits including a double and three RBIs. Lucy Taylor and Jayla Sutherland also had two-hit games for South Robeson with an RBI each; Aaliyah Duran, Addy Hunt and Malaysia McInnis each had one hit and one RBI and Lyric McNair, Halona Locklear and Jamyiah Hunt also had one RBI each.

“We did not have a strikeout; everybody put the ball in play,” Kevin Chavis said. “That says a lot. Everybody hit the ball, they put the ball in play. The whole team, as a team, hit the ball well, ran the bases well, they just did a lot of good things today.”

South Robeson scored at least one run in every inning, with two each in the first, second and third, one in the fourth and five in the fifth.

Pembroke (11-2) scored twice in the fifth; Sakyiah Bullard had the Warriors’ only hit.

Kevin Chavis credited not only CeCe Chavis’ pitching, but the defensive work of Duran behind the plate, as a big reason for the Mustangs’ success.

“I don’t care how good you pitch, if you don’t have good catching back there — the pitcher gets all the credit, and the catcher really doesn’t,” Chavis said. “She’s quite an athlete back there.”

South Robeson won its second girls sports county championship in the current school year, following a third-straight basketball title in February, and won the Mustangs’ sixth girls championship within the last three years. The top-seeded Mustangs defeated No. 8 St. Pauls and No. 5 Littlefield to reach the championship game.

“That gave them motivation when people kept saying ‘you won’t win it this year, you won’t do this, you won’t do that,’ I think that motivated our girls,” Kevin Chavis said. “You could tell in practice they would just work harder. I think that motivated them — hey, we lost a lot, but we’ve still got a pretty good team.”

Pembroke reached the county championship game for the third straight year. The Warriors, the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament, beat No. 7 Magnolia and No. 3 Prospect in the first two rounds.