Moments following his team’s playoff-clinching 6-5 win over Carrollton, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe baseball coach Brad Langford summed up his team’s effort perfectly.
“We don’t seem to do anything the easy way, but we seem to get it done when it matters most,” he said after watching his team rally from a 4-1 deficit to upset Region 6-AAA’s second-seeded team.
Langford’s Warriors (17-8, 9-5) will travel to Region 8 champion Gainesville next Friday for a first-round best-of-three series. In clinching the final playoff spot, LFO eliminated Catoosa County rival Heritage.
Dylan Culver’s two-out, bases-loaded double in the bottom of the sixth inning was the game’s big blow, completing a comeback from a 4-1 deficit midway through the fifth. Culver’s line drive to right-center off Carrollton reliever Dalton Powell was nearly caught by a diving Phillip Depriest, but the ball kicked away enough to allow pitcher Justin Walker to score all the way from first base.
“I just got in there and settled down and did what my coaches tell me to do – be patient and hit a good pitch,” said Culver, who admitted he thought Depriest was going to catch the liner. “I was watching all the way around first. It scared me a lot, but I had faith it would get down.”