Lady Cougars Prep for State

The Piedmont Academy varsity softball team will begin play in the state tournament Saturday.

The Lady Cougars will be at home against Briarwood in a best-of-three match-up. Games will be at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. and a third game, if necessary, at 3 p.m.

“We are looking forward to a run in the playoffs,” said Piedmont coach Daniel Funt. “I think the team is excited about it as well. We have been playing really well of late and if we keep that going, it should be a good postseason run. There are a lot of good teams to compete against though and nobody is going to give us anything.”

The Lady Cougars (14-4-1 overall) had a first-round bye as a result of being region champions. Briarwood defeated Crisp Academy in the opening round.

Piedmont, which has won 11 consecutive games, closed out the regular season with a record. The Lady Cougars defeated Gatewood 8-0 on Sept. 28 in the final regular season contest.

In that game, Neely Bradford pitched five innings and allowed just one hit while striking out four batters.

Haley Ann Frank was 2-for-4 at the plate with two runs while Ava Anglin was 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Cassidy Cook finished 2-for-3 with a run and RBI. Ashley Johnston was 1-for-2 with a run and RBI while Maddie Morton was 1-for-2 with a walk