Asked to put the past four days in perspective, Ridgeland High School baseball coach Scott Harden quickly recalled the week's nightmare beginning.
The Panthers entered the week in the hunt for a playoff berth in Region 7-AAAA, but a loss Tuesday at last-place LaFayette put a damper on those hopes, especially with powerhouse Cartersville up next. Ridgeland, however, upset the Purple Hurricanes on Thursday and followed that by clinching a playoff spot Friday with a 5-2 win over Northwest Whitfield.
"We start the week at LaFayette and it was like a scene with Freddy Krueger: It was just a matter of time before he got us," an exhaling Harden said. "Bouncing back after that and beating a team like Cartersville that has beaten some of the better teams from across the South shows how resilient this bunch is.
"Today they did what they had to and took care of business against a team that always gives us fits. They knew this is what they wanted, and I'm really excited for them."
The Panthers (14-9, 7-5), who will end a five-season playoff drought in two weeks, used a complete-game three-hitter from Micah Genter (7-2) and timely hitting to complete a season sweep of the Bruins (7-17, 5-7), who were eliminated from playoff contention with the loss. Genter allowed one earned run and struck out five and added two hits and three RBIs from his leadoff spot.
"It feels great to beat Northwest," Genter said. "I threw against them last year and they beat me badly. Offensively, the guys at the bottom of the lineup were getting it done, and that makes it easy for us at the top of the order. Those guys had a great game getting on base, and it made a big difference."
Number nine hitter Shawn Wilson scored three of Ridgeland's runs, singling twice and getting hit. He was part of a three-run second inning that started with Ivy Boehm's single and a Northwest error that allowed Jalyn Shelton to reach.
Wilson followed with an RBI single and Genter, after the first of Wilson's three stolen bases, singled to right to plate two more. A Wilson single, a stolen base and a two-out hit from Dylan Wooten made it 4-0 in the fourth, and Genter's two-out single in the sixth scored Wilson for the Panthers' final run.
The Panthers stole nine bases, part of a season-long game plan to take advantage of the team's improved athletic ability.
"We're not very big. If you saw us at the mall you would think we were a swim team," Harden said, "but we play hard-nosed ball and we get after it like Ridgeland has always played. They're so athletic that we can take our kids and play them pretty much anywhere, which makes this team very versatile."
Northwest, which managed just one hit through five innings, scored a run in the sixth on two Ridgeland errors. The long inning seemed to wear on Genter, who walked the first two batters in the seventh and then uncorked a wild pitch.
Blakely Curtis' sacrifice fly made it 5-2, but Genter got pinch hitter Cameron Womack to ground out and ended the game by inducing Sebastian Orozco to do the same.
Ridgeland will face Pickens on Tuesday in a game that will decide the No. 3 seed from the region.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22