Prep Softball: Nothing decided yet

Northwest Whitfield softball coach Jason Brooker has preached the “one game at a time” motto all season.

Now the Lady Bruins are one game away from returning to the state playoffs.

Northwest topped Southeast Whitfield 8-0 in the second round of the Region 7-4A tournament Saturday at Heritage Point to advance to the semifinals of the championship bracket in the double-elimination event. That means the Lady Bruins (24-3) — the tournament’s No. 1 seed and the top-ranked team in the Ga.PrepCoun-try.com Class 4A coaches poll — will clinch one of the region’s four state berths with a win Monday.

Earlier in the day, Southeast’s Lady Raiders beat Gilmer 5-2 to advance to the matchup with Northwest. Dalton started with a 3-1 win against Cedartown in the first round — Pickens beat Ridgeland in the round’s only other game — but then lost 12-1 to Heritage-Catoosa.

Northwest’s game with South-east went just six innings because of the mercy rule, with the Lady Bruins ending the contest on a double by Bayli Cruse that drove in Hannah Godfrey. The Lady Bruins, who went 10-0 against Sub-region 7B-4A competition during the regular season, scored once in the first inning, twice in the second, fourth and fifth and once more in the sixth.

“I thought we hit the ball well,” said Brooker, who is in his first year as coach. “We had a lot of shots that went right at them for outs.”

Colbie Thomas’ leadoff single in the first resulted in a run thanks to an RBI groundout by Cruse. A double by Mallory Souther and single by Karli Henson set up Bayley Marquardt’s RBI sacrifice fly and Godfrey’s RBI groundout in the second.

Henson added a one-out double in the fourth, and an error on a Godfrey grounder resulted in another run.

In the fifth, back-to-back doubles by Mykeah Johnson and Souther made it 6-0, and Henson followed with an RBI single.

Thomas, Godfrey, Cruse, Johnson and Souther combined for 11 of Northwest’s 12 hits and all of its runs.

However, only one run was needed for Northwest ace Emily Boyd. The senior threw all six innings and allowed just one hit while striking out 12. The lone hit for Southeast (11-15) came from Brooke Hasty in the fifth inning. Mekala White also reached base on an error in the sixth.

Boyd threw a one-hitter against Southeast on Thursday and a perfect game against the Lady Raiders one week before that.

“Emily Boyd is tough,” Southeast coach Kelley Barton said. “We’ve just got to hit. She’s great, don’t get me wrong, but we’ve got to learn to adjust.”

But with Monday’s 7 p.m. game against Cass looming, the job is still unfinished for the Lady Bruins

“I don’t think we’re overconfident,” said Godfrey, who finished with an RBI and run scored. “(Coach Brooker) has told us, ‘We can be out by Monday.’ We don’t want to be out by Monday.”

Southeast’s Tavi Parris pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing six earned runs and walking one.

• Southeast Whitfield 5, Gilmer 2: The Lady Raiders’ day started on a good note thanks to a two-out rally in the fifth inning.

With the score tied at two, Sydney Covington, who pitched a complete game, launched a solo home run to left-center field to give Southeast the lead. The inning continued when Parris singled, Hasty walked and Emily Beck’s triple scored both.

In the next frame, Covington faced runners at second and third with just one out, but she escaped the jam with no one scoring. She finished with five strikeouts and only one earned run off six hits. Southeast scored twice in the first, but Gilmer, sub-region 7A’s No. 5 seed, tied it up in the third.

“Overall, I’m really happy with how we played,” Barton said. “There for a while our bats were dead, but we fought through it.”

Southeast, which entered the tourney as sub-region 7B’s No. 4 seed, still needs to win three more games to earn a spot in the state playoffs. The Lady Raiders will face Cedartown in an elimination game at 5 p.m. Monday.

• Dalton 3, Cedartown 1: Allie Blackwood’s pitching performance gave the Lady Cats (10-16) a first-round win and put them in a situation where two more victories will equal a trip to the state playoffs.

The senior pitched all seven innings, allowing just two hits and striking out seven. She also had an impact at the plate. In the first, Destinee Woods reached base and Blackwood doubled to move her to third. Then Blakely Thomason drove her in with a single.

It was tied 1-1 in the fifth when Hannah Jones, who had two hits in the game, scored on a wild pitch to give Dalton the lead. Then Blackwood grounded out and scored Blayne Thomason for an insurance run.

“That’s an important win for us with the momentum you’re going to create for yourself,” Dalton coach Jeff McKinney said.

Cedartown entered as sub-region 7A’s No. 3 seed, while Dalton was sub-region 7A’s No. 6 seed.

• Heritage 12, Dalton 1: The Lady Cats scored in the top of the first when Blackwood doubled to drive in Sarah Stinnett, but that was their only highlight for the game.

The Lady Generals, who finished second in sub-region 7B and had a first-round bye, scored four in their half of the first and four more in the second. The game ended after five innings via the mercy rule.

Carson Hagin threw three innings and freshman Carson Roberts pitched the final two.

Despite losing, McKinney saw bright spots.

“Last time they pitched a no-hitter against us,” he said. “We hit the ball today. The score wasn’t in our favor, but I’m more pleased with how we played.”

The Lady Cats are the lone team of seven in the loser’s bracket with a bye to the next round, which means they don’t play until Monday at 7 p.m. They will face the winner of Pickens and Gilmer.

In Saturday’s other tournament games, River Ridge beat Pickens 4-2 and Cass beat LaFayette 2-1 in the second round.

Region 7-2A

• At Alto Park in Rome, Murray County (13-13) split its two games but is still just a win away from clinching one of Region 7’s four spots in the Class 2A state playoffs.

The Lady Indians, the No. 5 seed, beat No. 4 seed Armuchee 3-0 in the first round. Whitney Gribble pitched all seven innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out five.

Shea Pendley had a double in the first inning, and Ashlee Strong drove her in with a triple. She later scored on a passed ball to give the Lady Indians a 2-0 lead. Caitlyn Sims added an RBI single in the sixth, and Lindsey Dunn finished 2-for-3.

Murray County then lost 12-4 in five innings to No. 1 seed Calhoun.

Pendley, Strong, Aubrie Osborne and Madison Wilcox each had two hits and combined for three runs. Whitney Gribble had a hit and an RBI, Caitlyn Sims added a double and Ariel Smith added an RBI.

The Lady Indians face No. 6 seed Pepperell at 5 p.m. Monday. The winner will be among the four remaining teams in the tournament and assured of continuing its season.

“We’re where we want to be,” Murray County coach Sandra Johnston said. “We’ll go at it and see what happens. We’ll see which one of my teams shows up.”

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