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Union advances to Elite Eight
The historic achievement marks the first time in Union County High School history that a fast pitch softball team has reached the Elite Eight of the Georgia High School Association AA Class. Union will now travel to Columbus where they will face Jeff Davis at noon on Thursday. If they win they will then face the winner of the GAC vs. SE Bulloch game at 4:30 on Friday. A loss to Jeff Davis would force them to play an early game at 9 a.m. on Friday. Head Coach Jessica Stewart talked about what it means to make it this far. "It's a big accomplishment," said Coach Stewart. "I know it means a lot to [the girls] because they've been playing together since they were little. I'm proud. That's all you could ever ask for."
When all was said and done, they did just that. "I told them to take one game at a time," said the coach. "We didn't look past anybody." The hitting caught fire early Saturday, as the Lady Panthers defeated Holy Innocents 14-1. Amanda Mason led the way, batting a whopping .563 to help push the team average to .347. "That tournament is the best we have hit all year, by far. We've probably got as good of a lineup as anybody," said Coach Stewart. "We've just been inconsistent." But the Lady Panthers were anything but inconsistent on this day, both at the plate and in the field. "We pretty much played error free," said the coach. "That was a big key."
"She wanted Dade and I think she pitched as good, if not better, in the Dade County game than she did in any of the other games," said Coach Stewart. "She never showed one ounce of weakness." Union 0 - Heard 1 Union got off to a shaky start as a cold Friday night led to cold bats for the Lady Panthers. Heard County hit a solo homerun which accounted for the only score of the game. This put the Lady Panthers in the losers bracket, leaving them with the task of winning four games in a row on Saturday.
Union scored with two outs in the third when April Harper came up with an infield single that led to a throwing error, allowing Kaley Sullivan to score from second base. Holy Innocents tied the game on a very controversial play when a batter appeared to strike out for the final out of the inning. A runner on second base appeared to be stranded as the batter headed towards the dugout and the Lady Panthers came off the field. But the batter was then instructed to go to first base by the Holy Innocents coaches. The baserunner came in to score and the batter made it to second base as the Lady Panthers rushed back onto the field. The umpire ruled that catcher Lauren Dyer had not held on to the ball on the strikeout, and because the batter had not actually gone into the dugout, she was still in play. "I've never seen that called before," said Coach Stewart. "I think that made [our girls] mad. That's when they got going." Union reclaimed the lead in the fourth inning when Amanda Mason scored on a single by Brittany Massey-Lentz. In the sixth inning Jess Seabolt came up with a bases loaded single, scoring a pair to pad the lead. Union would go on to score 11 runs in the inning to post the easy 14-1 win to start the day.
The Lady Panthers dispatched Calhoun just as easily, though doing it a little earlier in this game. The team came up with a big fourth inning capped off by a bases clearing 3-run double by Massey- Lentz. Mason had a two-run double. Union 2 - Adairsville 1 After a pair of blowouts the Lady Panthers found themselves in a nailbiter against Adairsville. Adairsville struck first and held a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth. Massey-Lentz led off with double and came in on a bloop single by Sullivan. The game stayed tied through seventh inning, forcing the international tiebreaker rule [where each team begins the inning with a runner on second base.] In the bottom of the eighth the Lady Panthers got their runner to third with one out but couldn't score. In the top of the ninth Adairsville got their runner to third with one out but also failed to score. The Lady Panthers got a second chance in the bottom of the ninth with Harper on third. Mason came to the plate and blasted the ball over the infield down the left field line to win the game 2-1. This set up the clinching game against Dade County.
As many wondered whether or not the Lady Panthers had one more win in them, especially just off playing a nine-inning nail biter, the team left no doubt, taking charge of this game from the beginning. In the first inning Harper launched an RBI double off the outfield wall to score Seabolt. Mason then came up with an RBI single that sent Harper to the plate for a quick 2-0 lead. In the fourth inning Mason scored when Beltinck stole second and they threw the ball away, allowing her to take home. Those three runs were more than enough for Harper, who baffled the Dade County lineup throughout the game. Afterwards, the Lady Panthers celebrated their record achievement.
Coach Stewart pointed out that the fans were equally fired up. Said one spectator from North Oconee, "Your fans took them out of that game in the first inning."
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