Houston County and Veterans fell in about the worst ways possible in each’s second game Thursday of the GHSA Class AAAAAA state tournament in Columbus.
The Lady Warhawks were shut out by South Effingham 4-0. In fact, if it were not for a walk given up to Hailey Maloney – that coming in the sixth – Bailey Kendziorski would pitched a perfect game against them. She struck out eight in the process.
The Lady Mustangs managed just five hits off Madison Bunnell – five and a third innings pitched – but one of them was a homerun. It came on the heels of a double and a walk, so it hurt three times as bad. South Effingham’s fourth run came in the sixth.
As far as the Lady Bears, they fell 7-6 to Effingham County. It took 12 innings to decide that. In fact, Houston County carried a 5-3 lead into the seventh only to see it erased by a two-run homerun.
Play continued on from there with each putting runners on but being unable to bring them home. Houston County did get the lead back in the 10th. Claire McArthur was placed on second and scored on Emma Nauss’s single. But Effingham County duplicated that to keep things moving. Finally, it pushed across the game winner with a two-out single.
The losses ended the girls’ season – still with plenty of positives to reflect and build on. The Lady Bears finished 27-7 and Region 1-AAAAAA champions. The Lady Warhawks finished 19-12.
