TUNNEL HILL, Ga. - Slowpitch softball has been revived in Georgia. Despite the final score, that wasn't being played at Northwest Whitfield Thursday.
The Lady Bruins rallied from a 7-0 deficit to take two late leads but couldn't hold on as visiting Oconee County won a wild one, 15-14, to advance to the second round of the GHSA Class AAAA fastpitch playoffs. The hot-hitting teams combined for 31 hits while striking out only a handful of times.
"I just told my girls that they just witnessed what slowpitch softball looked like years ago," said Oconee coach Bryan Eades, whose team scored eight runs in the final two innings. "Now I don't say that disparagingly - there was just a lot of action you don't usually see in fastpitch.
"I'm too old for this. Our girls could have died several times, and Northwest's girls could have died several times. We're just happy to be moving on, and hopefully we can do something in the second round and reach Columbus."
Oconee (20-13) built its early lead on Maura Grace Dickens' second-inning grand slam, but the Lady Bruins (21-13) kept battling, beginning with Sydney Horne's solo homer in the bottom of the third. They scored four times in the fourth, two on Jole Gale's single, to cut it to 7-6, then took the lead with five runs in the fifth on just three hits and two Oconee errors.
"We never felt it was over, and obviously they didn't, either," Northwest coach Jason Brooker said. "We got to within 7-4 and kept chipping away, and we had more energy as it went."
An 11-7 Northwest lead evaporated in the sixth as the Lady Warriors batted around, scoring four runs on six hits, the big blow a two-run single by Lauren Murphy.
Northwest again went up by scoring three times in the bottom half, with Horne starting the rally with a single and Gale and KayLeigh Fitzgerald getting RBIs. However, having already gone to the team's third pitcher, Madison Harris, Northwest couldn't hang on as two hits, a walk and an error scored two for Oconee.
The final hit, a single to left by Keely Glenn, was extra painful as an overthrow from the outfield allowed Dickens and Glenn to move into scoring position with no one out. Two ensuing ground-ball outs plated both runners as Oconee took a 15-14 lead.
Oconee pitcher Catherine Waters retired the first two Northwest batters in the seventh before Horne laced a double, her fourth hit, to center. Waters, though, ended the marathon by getting Alyssa Ward to ground out.
"Most of the time our pitchers hit their spots and we rely on our defense to make plays," Brooker said. "We just didn't execute in either area tonight."
Ward joined Horne with four hits, while Gale had three for Northwest. Chloe Fambrough had four with Manders and Ansley Hart adding three each for Oconee.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22