ATLANTA — Ware County’s run in the Class 5 A state softball tournament ended with a two-game sweep at the hands of 10th-ranked Marist here Wednesday.
The Lady War Eagles (21-8) posted 70 and 7-1 victories in the best-of-three series October 16. Marist advances to face fifth-ranked Ola (25-5), the Region 2 champion in a second round matchup.
The Lady Gators (3-13-1) entered the playoffs as the third seed from Region 1.
Region 1 champion Wayne County swept Region 5 fourth-seed SW DeKalb 15-0 and 20-0. The Lady Yellow Jackets host fourth-ranked Region 8 runner-up East Forsyth in Round 2.
Region runner-up Perry knocked off Region 5 third-seed North Springs 10-2 and 17-2. The Lady Panthers travel to fourth-ranked Region 8 champion Eastside.
Fourth-seed Warner Robins was swept 15-0 and 19-3 by eighth-ranked Region 5 champion St. Pius X.
Game 1 No. 10 Marist.............................7 Lady Gators ..............................0
Homestanding Marist scored all the runs it would need during a four-run first inning in beating the Lady Gators.
The Lady War Eagles plated a run in the fourth and scored twice in the sixth on a two-run homer.
Kayleigh LeMay (4 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 K, 2 BB) and Mattie Forsyth (2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 K, 1 BB) toed the rubber for Ware County.
Molly Smith collected two of the Lady Gators’ five hits going 2-for-3. Ashlyn Jacobs (double), Kallie Lairsey and LeMay had the other hits.
Marist sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning while scoring four runs.
Ware County never had more than one runner on base in any of the seven innings. Jacobs was the only runner to reach second with her leadoff double in the seventh.
No. 10 Marist...............................7 Lady Gators .................................1
The Lady War Eagles plated three runs in the first inning and were never headed in completing the series sweep of Ware County.
LeMay (7 IP, 14 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 3 K, 1 BB) went the distance in the series finale.
Amberly Padgett led the Lady Gators at the plate going 2-for-3. Smith, Jacobs (RBI) and Forsyth had the other three hits.
Marist doubled its 3-0 lead to 6-0 with a three-run third. They added a final run in the sixth.
After the first nine Ware County batters were retired to start the game, Smith led off the fourth with an infield hit. Kara Coleman hit into a fielder’s choice one pitch later reaching second when the throw on the attempted double play was wild.
Padget and Jacobs followed with consecutive hits, the last by Jacobs plating Coleman.
The Lady Gators put two runners on the bottom of the fifth with a one-out walk to Reagan Middleton and a two-out bit by Forsyth. Padgett’s two-out single in the sixth provided Ware County with its last base runner.
