Lady Cougars Advance To GISA State Semifinals

The march to another state championship began last Saturday for the Piedmont Academy softball team as the Lady Cougars swept visiting Brentwood to advance to the state semifinals.

Piedmont took 10-0 and 6-4 wins to sweep the best-of-three quarterfinal series against the Lady Eagles. The Lady Cougars (19-2-1 overall) will now host the GISA Class AA state semifinals Saturday.

In the 10-0 win last weekend coach Colt Spivey’s team jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning and had moved in front 7-0 after the third. Piedmont scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to close the door on the victory.

The Lady Cougars had 14 hits in the game while Brentwood managed only two. It was another strong effort in the pitcher’s circle for Maddie Morton who recorded four strikeouts.

Offensively Cassidy Cook had a huge game at the plate with four hits and two RBI. Haley Ann Frank added three this and Madison Johnson drove in four runs.

Brentwood played a much more competitive contest in game two Saturday before falling 6-4. Piedmont led 3-0 after the third inning but the Lady Eagles would push two runs across in the bottom of the fourth.

The Lady Cougars added a run in the sixth inning and two more in the seventh before allowing two runs by Brentwood in its last at-bat.

Neely Bradford earned the win working 6.1 innings before Morton closed the door. Bradford had seven strikeouts while Morton struck out both batters she faced.

Cook, Johnson and Frank led the offense with Johnson added four more RBI to her season total. Cook also drove in a run.

Piedmont will face the winner of the Windsor-Southwest Georgia series. That quarterfinal matchup was set to be concluded Wednesday of this week. The Lady Cougars will host the semifinal round. Game times will be determined after the Windsor-Southwest Georgia series is completed.