BEARVILLE — Brantley County rode the leftarm of Edie Lowther to a “Sweet 16” doubleheader sweep Monday of Region 3-AAA rival Pierce County.
Lowther twirled complete game victories in both ends of the October 19 doubleheader here over the seventh-seed Lady Bears (22-9). BCHS (189), the 10th-seed, captured the series opener 5-2 and followed with a 92 victory in the nightcap.
The Lady Herons make the trek over to Columbus for the four-day state “Elite 8” double-elimination tournament beginning today (Wednesday, October 28) and running through Saturday’s (October 31) championship games.
Brantley County is making its ninth “Elite 8” appearance and first since 2019 when the Lady Herons reached the “Final Four.” BCHS first reached the quarterfinals in 1988 during the slow-pitch era.
The Lady Herons other “Elite 8” appearances were 1993 (Final Four), 1994 (Final Four), 1995 (Final Four), 1997, 2002, 2003, 2019 (Final Four).
Brantley County, winners of five straight, opens with second-seed Worth County (28-4), winners in nine of its last 10 games. The matchup is on Field 8 at 11 a.m.
Game 1 No. 10 Lady Herons .5 No. 7 PCHS..............2
Lydia Anderson and Rilee Story combined for five of Brantley County’s hits and drove in three runs to back the six-hit pitching of Lowther.
Anderson went 3-for-4 with a triple, drove in a run and stole two bases. Story finished 2-for-3 and drove in two runs.
Lowther went the distance needing 89 pitches. She scattered six hits, was charged with two earned runs, fanned five and walked one.
Anderson led off the Brantley County first with a bunt single, stole second and scored from there on Story’s ensuing groundout for a lead the Lady Herons would not relinquish.
Addisyn Grafford was hit one pitch later by a Bailey Barboza (5 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 0 K, 0 BB, 1 HBP), advanced to second when Caiden Jones’ (1for-4) reached on a oneout error. Grafford scored when Madison Walker’s (1-for-4) grounder was misplayed for a 2-0 advantage.
PCHS sliced the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning. Kaylee Figueroa (1-for-3) kept the inning alive with a two-out single. She raced around the bases on Parker Sinclair’s (2-for-3) single to right.
The Lady Herons responded with a run in the top of the second for a 3-1 advantage. Anderson beat out a slap hit to third, stole second and scored when Story’s fly ball was misplayed into a two-base error.
Pierce County cut the deficit to 3-2 in the bottom of the third on Maelee Childers’ (1-for-3) run-scoring infield hit.
Brantley County followed with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings pushing the lead out to its final 5-2 margin.
Game 2 No. 10 Lady Herons ....................9 No. 7 PCHS .................................2
Brantley County’s bats came to life in the nightcap banging out 17 hits with seven batters recording multi-hit games.
Lowther followed up her Game 1 performance with a second straight complete game outing. She worked seven innings, surrendered seven hits, allowed two earned runs, recorded two strikeouts and walked none while needing just 84 pitches.
Sydnee Davis led the hit parade going 4-for-4 with an RBI. Story had three hits in four trips. Anderson, Grafford, Jones (double, three RBIs) Walker (two doubles, three ribbies) and Kynli Flowers (two doubles, RBI) finished with two hits apiece.
PCHS grabbed its only lead of the series with a run in the top of the first on a run-scoring hit.
The Lady Herons came right back plating two runs in the bottom of the inning, the first of three two-run rallies.
Davis got the first of her four base hits with a run-scoring infield single tying the game at 1-apiece. A single by Jones was followed by Walker’s run-scoring single giving Brantley County the lead for good at 2-1.
The Lady Herons tacked on two runs in the third inning for a 4-1 advantage. Walker’s fielder’s choice grounder scored Grafford. Flowers followed with a base hit driving home Davis upping the score at 4-1.
BCHS followed with a second straight two-run rally in the fourth to open up a 6-1 advantage. Jones’ sacrifice fly to center scored Story for the five-run lead.
The Lady Bears plated their final run of the season in the top of the sixth to get to within 6-2.
Brantley County put the finishing touches on the victory scoring three times in the bottom of the sixth doing the damage with two outs and nobody on base.
Jones ripped a two-run double extending the lead to 8-2. Walker followed with a run-scoring double extending the Lady Herons’ advantage to seven runs.
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