Lady Canes Playoff Bound as Third Seed
After a couple of weeks of uncertainty stemming from the aftermath of forfeits, the Lady Hurricanes punched their ticket to the region playoffs, where they entered as a three seed after a 19-1 win over Putnam County on Senior Night.
A rematch was in store for the first game of the day, against Lamar County, whom the Lady Canes had just beaten a week and a half earlier in a 9-8 barnburner. As with every game the Lady Canes play against a team from the “Buggy City.” this was to be no different.
The ladies jumped out to an early lead, using the speed of senior Hailey Roper to go up 1-0 in the top half of the first. After reaching on a bunt single, she advanced to second on a wild pitch that caromed around the backstop. This allowed her to move all the way to third. On the throw attempt to get her out, the throw was wide, and knocked down by the third baseman, allowing Roper to come all the way around. The lead reached 2-0 after freshman sensation Kamryn Davis tripled to lead off the third inning, and then scored on a first pitch sac fly from junior Haven Cannon.
Lamar County answered back in the bottom half, cutting the lead in half after a two out double brought in the baserunner, who had reached on a single to left to lead off the inning.
Both teams had their chances through the fourth and fifth innings, but couldn’t capitalize. In the top half of the sixth, junior pitcher Kylee Schell led off with a walk, bringing up senior Madelyn Taylor to the plate. After courtesy runner (for Schell) Jazmin Maddox stole second, Taylor lofted a double deep to right center field, bring Maddox around and building the lead up to 3-1.
The fireworks weren’t over yet, as Roper reached on an error on a pop-up in the infield. Unfortunately, Taylor was running on the play, and was thrown out at third, but the Hurricanes were still in business. The next batter was that freshman sensation mentioned earlier in the article, and did she bring the lumber this time, fighting with a full count, she slugged the offering from Lamar County over the fence for a no-doubt home run, increasing the margin to 5-1, with just six outs to go.
Lamar answered with a two-run homer of their own to reduce the deficit to two runs at 5-3, and after going down in order in the top half of the seventh, nothing seemed to go the way of the Canes in the bottom half, as three consecutive singles loaded the bases, a ground ball error allowed the Trojans to tie it, and a bases loaded single ended it with Lamar on top 6-5.
Lamar went on to defeat Social Circle in the region championship game later that afternoon, and obtained the seventh seed overall in the GHSA state playoffs.
The Lady Canes had to turn around and play against Putnam County to determine who would be the third seed from Region 4. This game was over before your seat got cold if you went to the concessions. A 10-run first inning, followed by a three run second and four run third quickly enacted the mercy rule, as the Lady Canes claimed the third seed with a 17-1 victory. They managed the 17 runs on only 5 hits in the contest, working around 11 walks and four hit batters to clog up the bases. Schell lead the way with two of the five hits, followed by senior Kyla King, freshman Hodges, and a game ending double off the bat of Cannon.
Because of the new playoff seeding format, the Canes are placed as the 31-seed out of 32, and will be traveling to Chickamauga tomorrow to take on the Gordon Lee Lady Trojans. Gordon Lee finished the season with a 25-3 record, and their 22nd consecutive region championship. The Lady Trojans have a great program, and have had a great season, but hey, we’re here, might as well give it a shot! Good luck to the Lady Canes, and go shock the state!