Lady Pirates back-to-back Region Champions!
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On Thursday, October 2, the Appling County High School Lady Pirates Softball team hosted long-time region rival, the Pierce County High School Lady Bears. As most fans of both teams know, this is always a big game, but this game meant more as the Lady Pirates had to win to clinch the region championship from Cook County.
The Lady Pirates started off strong, with Hadley Johnson not allowing any runs in the top of the first inning. At the bottom of the inning, a run scored after Cierra Stallings tagged up at third base and ran in for the first point of the game.
The Lady Pirates advanced their score in the third inning after Stallings was brought in by a single from Hadley Johnson, and three more runs were scored after Maddalyne Jones hit a double that brought in Ellie Atkins and Brooklyn Courson, who was a pinch runner for Johnson. The final score for the Pirates in the third inning came from Abbe Carver hitting a single and receiving a RBI by bringing Jones in from third base. This would give the Lady Pirates a 5-0 lead over the Lady Bears heading into the fourth inning.
With Johnson still keeping the Lady Bears scoreless, Maddalyne Jones would score two more runs for the Lady Pirates after hitting a two-run homer deep to center field.
Now with the Lady Pirates up 7-0, the Lady Bears would score their first run in the top of the fifth inning after a double scored one of the two runners that were on first and second base.
Maddalyne Jones came in to pitch at the top of the sixth inning. Hadley Johnson did a great job holding Pierce to only one run for five innings. Jones held them to no runs in the top, keeping the score 7-1 going into the bottom.
Cierra Stallings would get on first for the Lady Pirates after being walked by the Lady Bears pitcher, and Ellie Atkins would also be walked. Hadley Johnson would give another point for the Lady Pirates with a single shot right between first and second base to bring Stallings around from second to home for a run. Finally, Maddalyne Jones would come up and end the ballgame with a three-run homerun to left center field to force a run rule over the Lady Bears with a final score of 11-1.
This win gave the Lady Pirates the ability to clinch the Region Championship and have back-to-back championships. Congratulations to the Lady Pirates on this big accomplishment!
The Lady Pirates’ last home game was Monday night. They play Bacon County on Tuesday. The last game of the regular season is on Thursday against Emmanuel County in Twin City. If you don’t make it to either one of the games on Monday or Tuesday, travel with them on Thursday for their last game before they begin the playoffs. Check out next week’s edition of the News Banner to find out what the Lady Pirates will be doing in the Playoffs this year. GO LADY PIRATES!
