Softball Tournament Daily Recap

With the 2012 season complete, six teams will compete for the GCAA Region 17 title this weekend.  Friday's game start at 1 pm with fourth seed Waycross taking on fifth seed East Georgia. The 3 pm matchup features third seed Gordon versus sixth seed ABAC.

Game one winner will advance in the winners bracket to take on number one seed Darton. Game two winner will face number two seed Georgia Perimeter in the final game of the day.

Day 1 Recap:

Game 1: It was the Heaven Hinton show as the sophomore from Brooklet Georgia hammered 2 homeruns and finished the first game with 5 RBI'S to lead the Lady Bobcats to a 13-4 win over the Lady Swampfoxes from Waycross College. 

Game 2: The second game turned into a battle between Gordon and ABAC. The Lady Highlanders jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to have ABAC score 4 runs on 6 hits in the top of the sixth inning to tie the game. Heather Maddox answered the ABAC rally with a first pitch, line shot homerun in the bottom of the 6th to reclaim a 5-4 lead.  Gordon held on to claim the 5-4 victory.

Game 3:  Darton jumped out in front first scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the first inning only to have East Georgia return the favor scoring 4 runs in the top of the second to take a 4-2 lead. The Lady Bobcats would add 2 more runs in the top of the third to increase the lead to 6-2. It remained scoreless until the bottom of the 6th when the Lady Cavaliers scored 4 times to take a 7-6 lead. Conference MVP Katy Jordan finished the game the game with a scoreless 7th to take the victory.

Game 4:  The winner of game 4 was to advance to the winners bracket. Gordon jumped out early lead with 2 runs in the top of the first and then added one more run in the top of the third to take a 3 run lead. GPC tied things up in the bottom of the fourth with 3 runs. But Gordon answered with 3 runs in the top of the 5th to take a lead they wouldn't give up and winning the contest 6-3.

DAY 2 Game 1: The first elimination game was a pitchers duel between GPC and Waycross. GPC scored a run in the bottom the second and Waycross tied the game in the top of the 6th. GPC scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the 6th on a dropped pop fly that would have ended the inning to take a 3-1 lead. GPC advanced by winning 3-1.

Game 2:  In the second elimination game ABAC jumped on East Ga. scoring 4 runs in the 1st and 2 more in the second to take 6 -0 lead. Alex Payne kept the Lady Bobcats off balance and didn't yield a hit until the bottom of the 5th when East Ga pushed 1 run across the plate. ABAC shut it down the rest of the way on route to a 6-1 victory.

Game 3: What a softball game this turned out to be. Gordon scored 1 run in the top of the third to take a one run lead. The lead remained until the bottom of the sixth when Holly Smith's two run double gave Darton a 2-1 lead. It seemed Darton was destined to pull out another late inning win yet Gordon wasn't ready to concede. The Lady Highlanders regained the lead on a 3-run homer by Samantha Young to retake a 4-2 lead. Darton tried to rally again but only managed to push across one run with Gordon winning by a score of 4-3. Gordon advances to Sunday's championship game.

Game 4: The GCAA tournament has provided a little bit of everything, and  this game gave us an extra inning contest. It took 9 innings but ABAC advanced with a 5-2 win. GPC scored once in the bottom of the first only to have ABAC take the lead with a 2-run homer from Savannah Berkhiser. GPC tied the contest in the bottom of the 4th. It stay that way until the top of the 9th when 3 wild pitches by GPC and a base hit again by Berkhiser sealed the game for the Fillies.

Championship Day:

 Game 1:  Based on the first couple of innings, it appeared Darton was going to continue in the softball funk they had been in Day 1 and 2 as the Fillies from ABAC jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. However, Katy Jordan settled down  and allowed the Darton offense to put up 2 runs in the 4th, 3 runs in the 5th and 4 runs in the 6th to run-rule ABAC and win 9-1. Darton advances to the championship game.

Game 2: Gordon came into this championship game needing just one win, but Darton wasn't going to just let the Lady Highlanders walk away with the title. Gordon managed just one run in top of the 6th inning while Darton scored once in the bottom of the 4th, 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th and once more in the 6th to win 7-1 and force a championship (if) game.

Championship Game: The final game was a homerun barrage with all but one run coming off the longball. In the end Gordon prevailed with a 7-5 victory. Karson King and Megan Carter each homered in the top of the first giving Gordon an early 3-0 lead. Chelsea Showers cut the lead to 3-1 with a solo homer in the 3rd. Samantha Young answered the call with her first homer of the game, a three run shot, extending the Gordon lead to 6-1. Darton pushed a run across and another homerun by Showers, this time a two-run blast closing the gap to 6-4. Young's second homer of the game provided an insurance run for Gordon and increased the lead to 7-4. Kelsea Ogletree hit a monster blast in the bottom of the sixth to bring the score back to a two run deficit at 7-5. At that point Gordon refused to allow any Darton players to advance past second base and captured the GCAA softball title.