Coming off a disappointing loss to Calhoun in the Region 6-AAA softball championship round in which his team had leads in each game, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe coach Tony Ellis was understandably concerned about the mental status of his team coming into Wednesday's state playoff opener.
He needn't have worried. The Lady Warriors got dominating pitching from senior Kourtney Morrison and four doubles and eight RBIs from shortstop Taylor Phillips in a 8-0, 10-2 sweep of Pace Academy at Chip Liner Field
LFO (22-12) will travel to Jackson County next Wednesday for a best-of-three series in the second round.
"Sometimes in their minds - this group has never beaten Calhoun - so that was in the back of their heads, and they were waiting for the bottom to fall out, and it did," Ellis said. "We knew we probably weren't going to see anybody any better than what we've seen in our region, so my biggest concern was coming out flat and thinking this would be easy, and I don't think they did that."
Phillips had RBI doubles in the first two innings of game one as LFO took a 6-0 lead, with Morrison also adding a two-run single. The Lady Knights managed just one infield single off Morrison, who struck out seven. The game ended in five innings after the Lady Warriors plated two in the fifth on three Pace errors.
Game two went the distance, but LFO was in control from the start, getting three runs in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk by Karson Bradford and Lindsey Teague's two-runs ingle. Phillips added a two-run double in the second to stake Morrison to a comfortable lead.
After giving up a run on a pair of doubles in the second, Morrison retired the next 13 batters, a run that included six consecutive strikeouts. LFO, after adding a single run in the fifth on Shaniya Jones' RBI single, scored four times in the seventh, with three coming in on Phillips' bases-loaded double.
"It was a tough loss last week, and we knew we had to come back strong and better tonight," Phillips said. "That was very motivating for us this week. Our seniors wanted to win more than everybody, and we didn't want to let them down tonight."
Jones was 5-for-6 with six runs scored in the two games.
In other series involving northwest Georgia teams:
Class AAAA
Heritage and Northwest Whitfield swept series. Heritage (22-8) defeated Cedartown 6-1 and 10-0, while Northwest downed Troup County 10-1 and 6-2.
Ridgeland split with No. 8-ranked Central-Carroll, winning the first game 13-0 before getting routed 20-5 in the second. Game three will be today. Region 6 No. 4 seed LaFayette was swept at Chapel Hill, 9-1 and 9-6.
Class AAA
Region 6 champion Calhoun had no trouble with Cedar Grove, winning 19-0 and 16-0. Sonoraville, the No. 4 seed, eliminated Region 5 champion Lovett, 2-0 and 7-0.
Class AA
Dade County, the Region 7 No. 2 seed, was eliminated by Monticello, losing 3-0 and 4-0.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.