TUNNEL HILL, Ga. – Jason Brooker would prefer to do without the early drama, but, considering the bottom line, the Northwest Whitfield High School softball coach will take it.
Thursday’s 9-4 Region 6-AAAA win over LaFayette followed a familiar script for the Lady Bruins as the Lady Ramblers took a quick lead only to see the home team rally with a seven-run first inning. Northwest (15-1, 7-1) moved into first place and dropped LaFayette (13-2, 6-2) into second.
“We got down early, and it seems like that’s what we’ve done all year,” Brooker said. “We’ve come back, I think, in each of our last four region games. I wish we could have put them away, but it’s hard to put a good team away, but we did what we had to do.
“It’s big getting a little bit of separation as we go for that top seed in this region. There’s never going to be that much separation.”
The importance of the game – LaFayette won the previous matchup – was on display early as Brooker pulled starting pitcher Shaylen Sutton with two outs, two runs in and one runner still on base in the first inning. The move worked as reliever Cara Rann got out of the inning and proceeded to work the rest of game, allowing one earned run.