CALHOUN, Ga. - If there were odds posted on such things, it's a good bet that any future Sonoraville/Coahulla Creek high school softball game will not end anywhere close to the seventh inning.
The two Region 6-AAA powers collided for the second time Monday night at Sonoraville and, for the second time, they went deep into the night before deciding things. Also, for the second time, the Lady Colts prevailed in a matchup of elite pitchers with a 2-1, this time in 11 innings.
Coahulla Creek's Sophia Voyles out-dueled Sonoraville's Taylor Long to complete a season sweep, though the Lady Phoenix (11-3) remain in first place in 6-AAA. Sonoraville has games remaining with North Murray and Murray County, the two bottom teams in the region, and needs only one win to secure a spot in the region championship best-of-three series.
Coahulla Creek (11-4) is tied with Rockmart. The teams split regular season games, though the Lady Colts have the tiebreak edge with their sweep of Sonoraville, which defeated Rockmart twice. Coahulla Creek has a game with LaFayette remaining, while Rockmart ends with Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.
Ringgold (11-5) has completed its season after Monday's 6-3 loss to Rockmart and will finish in third or fourth place. The third and sixth-place finishers will face each other in a best-of-three series, as will the fourth and fifth-place finishers. LFO (9-6) and Adairsville (7-9) are locked in as the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively.
Coahulla Creek stayed in contention Monday as Voyles went each of the 11 innings and allowed one hit, no earned runs and struck out 20. Long was equally impressive, allowing three hits, no earned runs and fanning 21 for the Lady Colts (11-4). In August's earlier 10-inning win, Voyles fanned 19 and allowed one hit while Long struck out 21 and gave up just two hits.
Monday's game was scoreless after nine innings, with each team scoring a run with the international tiebreaking rule in place in the 10th. In the 11th Coahulla Creek scored the eventual game-winner on Steahl Smith's squeeze bunt. Long then struck out two of the three batters she faced in the bottom half to seal the win.
In Ringgold's loss to Rockmart Riley Nayadley had two hits, one a homer, and Baileigh Pitts, Jade Gainer and Caroline Hemphill had two hits each.
* Dade County 12, Pepperell 4: The Lady Wolverines (12-3-1, 6-0) won a first-place showdown in Region 7-AA over the Lady Dragons (12-3, 7-1) as Kaitlynn Stinnett had two hits, one a homer, and drove in three runs, Stella Henry added a pair of hits, two RBIs and two runs scored, Michaela Massey two hits, two RBIs and a run and Aluyssa Wilson two hits, and RBI and run scored.
* Chattooga 2-9, Coosa 0-2: Ciara Wyatt pitched a complete-game three-hitter with eight strikeouts, Katie Williams had two hits and scored three runs and Bree Evans added an RBI in game one. Emma Hiward was 3-for-3 with three RBIs and pitched a one-hit shutout in game two for the Lady Indians (11-3, 5-2 in 7-AA).
VOLLEYBALL
* Hixson 3, Central 0: Jordan Westfall and Anna Johnston had seven aces to help the Lady Wildcats advance to the District 6-AA championship against host East Hamilton. Robert Catlett's team won a tough first set 26-24 and followed with 25-10 and 25-20 victories. Hixson's Ava Rogers and Rickell Crutcher combined for 11 kills and 18 digs while Izabel Todd had four kills and nine digs in Monday's semifinal victory.
* East Hamilton 3, East Ridge 0: The Lady Hurricanes will look to win their fourth District 6-AA championship in a row as they host Hixson. East Hamilton won its semifinals match by the scores of 25-6, 25-11 and 25-7 as Tristin and Amya Sutton had nine and six aces, respectively. Tristin also had five kills while teammate Morgan Bone had two.
* Soddy-Daisy 3, Rhea County 2: The Lady Trojans won a tight District 6-AAA semifinal match, 27-25, 25-20, 21-25, 21-25 and 17-15. Libby Peigen's team had a handful of standouts, which included Hope Ingle (32 assists, 10 digs, five kills), Javaria Smith (44 digs), Caroline Lemons (25 kills, 20 digs), Finley Hilliard (24 digs, four aces), Addie Miller (15 assists, 10 digs), Zoe Bratton (eight kills), Kensey Brown (seven kills), Taylor Lloyd (five kills, three blocks) and Caroline Jenkins (two blocks).