What started out as a very good Thursday for Northwest Georgia teams as the GHSA state tournament began in Columbus after a complete washout Wednesday became the opposite by the end of the night.
Two of the six area schools that advanced to the event as one of the final eight teams in their respective classifications went 2-0 to reach Friday’s winners-bracket finals: Heritage in Class AAA and Sonoraville in AA. The other four area teams in Columbus — LaFayette in Class AAA, Gordon Lee and Dade County in Class A Division I and Trion in Class A Division II — will compete again Friday but will be eliminated with another loss.
Heritage (21-10) is one of the surprise teams in its field. The Lady Generals graduated numerous stars from back-to-back state championship teams and lost three consecutive region games late in the regular season. However, they’ve lost only once since then, and after beating Southeast Bulloch 8-4 and West Laurens 3-1 on Thursday, Heritage will face Cherokee Bluff at 5 p.m. Friday.
The winner advances to Saturday’s championship round needing only one win for the title.
The story is likewise in Class AA, where Sonoraville (31-5) won a pair of one-run games Thursday. The Lady Phoenix downed Pike County, 3-2, before using Ellie Wofford’s walk-off solo homer in the seventh inning to get past Morgan County, 8-7. Sonoraville will face Appling County at 5 p.m. Friday.
LaFayette, the highest seed in the AAA field, rolled past North Hall 8-1 in the opening game but was on the short end of a 10-2 score versus Cherokee Bluff in the second game. The Lady Ramblers (25-6) are set to play at 1 p.m. Friday against the winner of an elimination game between Monroe Area and Southeast Bulloch.
Gordon Lee (28-7), the reigning Class A Division I champion, rallied to beat Toombs County 11-7 in the opening round before being relegated to the elimination bracket with an 8-0 loss to No. 1 seed Bremen. The Lady Trojans will play at 3 p.m. Friday against either Bacon County or Thomasville.
Dade County (30-6) defeated Thomasville 3-0 before falling against Region 7 rival Armuchee 2-1, and the Lady Wolverines will play again at 3 p.m. Friday against Banks County or Toombs County.
In Class A D-II, Trion (19-7) lost its only game Thursday, falling 2-1 to Taylor County. The Lady Bulldogs will go against Wheeler County at 11 a.m. Friday and would also need to win in two other scheduled rounds of elimination play to keep their title hopes alive.
Class AAA
Heritage, the runner-up in Region 7, used a pair of strong starts from pitcher Bailee Hollis to advance. She allowed seven hits and four runs — all the runs coming after building an 8-0 lead — in the win over Southeast Bulloch, then gave up a first-inning run versus West Laurens and nothing else in the second round.
Hollis also had two hits in each game. She drove in a run and scored one in game one, where Brylee Pritchett and Landry White also had two hits and Addie Wilson added a two-run pinch-hit single in a five-run fifth inning to make it 8-0.
Ema Tanner drove in two runs on a fifth-inning double to provide the winning runs against West Laurens.
LaFayette ace Marlie Day went the distance and allowed two hits and struck out four batters in the opening win over North Hall, but she was charged with seven runs after walking nine batters in 2 1/3 innings against Cherokee Bluff.
Tamra Yancy knocked in three runs in the first game, two with a homer, while Harley Perkins had two hits, drove in a run and scored twice, and Emma House was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.
LaFayette went up 1-0 against 2024 runner-up Cherokee Bluff on Yancy’s RBI single in the first inning, but the Bears scored seven runs in the third inning to take control and advance to the winners-bracket final.
Class AA
Sonoraville got one win and one save each from pitchers Lila Mullinax and Ansley Hall to start 2-0 in Columbus.
The Lady Phoenix used a two-run homer from Marley Hall and two hits and an RBI from Cadence Mulkey to top Pike County in their first game. Sonoraville built a 7-2 lead entering the seventh inning against Morgan County before the Lady Bulldogs scored five times to tie.
Wofford ended it in the bottom half with her solo homer to conclude a 4-for-4 game.
Class A Division I
Gordon Lee trailed 4-0 against Toombs County — the Lady Trojans’ opponent in the championship round last season — before scoring three runs in the second inning and five more in the third.
Abby Logan replaced Laney Wilson in the circle in the second inning and earned the win with no earned runs allowed in 5 2/3 innings. Logan also had three hits and an RBI, with Grace Shafer adding two hits, including a two-run homer, and four RBIs, and Kynleigh Custer two hits, two RBIs and two runs scored in the rally.
The Lady Trojans could not muster offense against Bremen’s Savannah Langley in the second game. She pitched each of the five innings and allowed three hits with four strikeouts, with Langley also driving in a run with a double as Bremen took a 2-0 lead in the third inning.
Dade County’s Lawson had one bad inning in her 14 pitched Thursday, and it came in her last one as Armuchee scored two runs in the seventh in a 2-1 win. The Lady Wolverines had taken a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning on Miley Chambers’ sacrifice fly, with Lawson holding the Lady Indians to three hits before Armuchee scored twice on three hits.
Lawson allowed three hits and fanned nine in the 3-0 opening win over Thomasville, when Madi Page and Josie Daniel had two hits each.
Class A Division II
Trion was the victim of a no-hitter from Taylor County’s Victoria Cooper, who struck out 15 batters in the 2-1 win.
Stella Morrison walked to score a run in the sixth inning for Trion, but Cooper struck out the side in the seventh to earn the win.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com.