Gordon Lee will play for the 11th fastpitch softball state championship in program history on Saturday after sweeping a pair of GHSA Class A public tournament games Friday in Columbus.
Heritage and Ringgold, however, will have to come through the losers bracket after dropping one-run extra-inning games in the winners-bracket finals in Class AAAA and AAA, respectively.
Gordon Lee, which will await the winner of the Bryan-Commerce losers-bracket finale, is set to play at 4 p.m., with another game to follow if necessary; the tournaments are double-elimination events throughout. Heritage faces West Laurens at 1, and Ringgold goes against Pike County at 2. Each would need to win three games to win championships.
Class A public
The Lady Trojans (33-3) scored eight runs in the third inning in a 14-3 win over Emanuel County Institute in their first game Friday, but they had to score seven runs in the final two innings to win 12-9 over Commerce in the winners-bracket final.
Addison Sturdivant had a three-run double to key the big inning versus ECI (27-7) and was 2-for-3, while Allie Farrow had a pair of run-scoring hits and Emma Phillips, Emma Langston and Sidney Gasaway drove in two runs each. Emma Minghini went all five innings and allowed four hits and three runs, the first runs Gordon Lee had given up this postseason.
Game two was back and forth with Commerce (22-12-1), with the Lady Trojans holding a 9-6 lead in the seventh inning. Commerce, though, tied the game on a two-out, three-run homer from Anna Taylor to send the game to extra innings. In the eighth, Gordon Lee pulled away for good on a two-run single by Minghini and an RBI single from Farrow.
Minghini was 3-for-3 with two RBIs and earned the pitching win after giving up two earned runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings in relief, while Ashlyn Schmidt, Jordan Dyer and Langston added home runs.
Staff file photo / Emma Langston helped Gordon Lee reach the title round of the GHSA Class A public softball state tournament as the Lady Trojans won twice Friday in Columbus, Ga.Class AAA
Ringgold (24-11) had little trouble with Pike County (23-11) in a five-inning 12-0 win earlier Friday as Riley Nayadley hit two homers and drove in five runs, Taylor Layne also hit two solo homers, Amber Gainer added a homer and two RBIs and Jade Gainer was 2-for-3.
The lead changed hands or the score was tied eight times in a wild 7-6 eight-inning loss to Region 6-AAA rival Rockmart (28-9), which has now won each of its four games against Ringgold this season.
The Lady Tigers tied the game at five with three runs in the fifth inning on RBIs from Amber Gainer, Nayadley and Jade Gainer, then took a 6-5 lead in the top of the seventh on Amber Gainer's leadoff homer. Rockmart, though, tied it in the bottom half on Emilee Register's RBI single and won it in the eighth on a two-out single from Gracey Arnold, who went 3-for-4.
Baleigh Pitts and Taylor Layne added solo homers for Ringgold.
Class AAAA
The Generals (29-7) had a pair of extra-inning games Friday, rallying from four runs down before exploding for 12 runs in the 10th inning to get past West Laurens (32-5) in the semifinal round. Madeline Stone and Carmen Gayler each hit homers in the 10th after Gracey Dawson and Sarah Haynes tied the game with RBI hits in the seventh.
Kelsey Anderson earned the win in relief with one run allowed in 6 1/3 innings.
Heritage led 1-0 with one out in the bottom of the sixth against Central-Carroll when Ava Thompson tied the game with a sacrifice fly. In the eighth, Karley Fuller started the winning rally with a two-out single, with courtesy runner Leigha Adams, after stealing third, scoring on an errant throw on the play.
Rachel Gibson allowed three hits and no earned runs while striking out 17 in a losing cause, while Fuller went eight innings and gave up four hits and no earned runs for Central (29-8).
SOCCER
Looking to win a third consecutive Class A state championship, Signal Mountain was in control from start to finish in a TSSAA quarterfinal Friday in Murfreesboro, defeating McKenzie 6-0.
The Lady Eagles (13-2-2) outshot McKenzie 27-3 in the first half and 13-3 in the second and got three goals from Camilla Mincey.
The Lady Eagles will face Alcoa (11-6-1) in Saturday's semifinals at 2:30 p.m. Eastern at the Richard Siegel Complex. Alcoa defeated Valor College Prep on Friday, 3-2.
Mincey's first two goals were unassisted, and her third came off an assist from Ava Duffey. Virginia Whitney scored the second goal on a penalty kick, with Jessica Agan and Julia Dieter rounding out the scoring off assists by Kara Wilson and Abby Roberts. Dillia Lowry also had an assist.
East Hamilton 2, Seymour 0: The Lady Hurricanes advanced to the Class AA semifinals by scoring a goal in each half. Alaina Fortune's unassisted goal put East Hamilton (15-3) ahead early, and Diamond Stephens added an unassisted goal to put the match away. East Hamilton will face Hume-Fogg in Saturday's semifinals at 8 p.m.
Bearden 7, McMinn County 0: Bearden (21-2) outshot the Lady Cherokees 29-8, led 2-0 at halftime and put the Class AAA quarterfinal away with five more goals in the second half. Brinley Murphy, Olivia Stott and Zneya McLaughlin each scored two goals for Bearden. McMinn County ended its season 14-4-1 overall.
Compiled by Lindsey Young and Stephen Hargis. Contact Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter @youngsports22. Contact Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293 and follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.