Sonoraville Lady Phoenix wins round one of softball playoffs
The Sonoraville Lady Phoenix’s softball team hosted their first-round playoff series against White County on Tuesday. The Lady Phoenix won both games to advance to the second round of the GHSA playoffs.
Sonoraville won the first game 5-0 thanks to a solid pitching performance by Taylor Long. Taylor Long threw 13 strikeouts and only gave up two hits in the shutout. Taylor West led the Lady Phoenix in batting, going 2-3 with an RBI. Sonoraville coach Natasha Hufstetler was happy with her team’s performance after they settled down.
“I thought the first time through the lineup we were a little (rusty),” Hufstetler said. “We weren’t being patient and had some lazy pop flies. We really made an adjustment our second time through the lineup. I thought we really executed better today – bunts and things like that. Sometimes that can be the make-or-break thing in a game – laying down a bunt or getting a run moved over.”
In the second game, Sonoraville did anything they wanted to on the offensive side in the 7-3 win. Multiple Lady Phoenix had successful days at the plate. Kelly Green stood out above the rest and went 3-3 batting with two doubles, a triple, two RBIs and two runs. Hufstetler praised Green’s performance at the plate.
“She had a fantastic outing,” Hufstetler said. “I think she’s seeing the ball really well. This is when you hope that kids peak and are really having quality at-bats. She’s hitting it to all fields.
She’s driving the ball. She’s just so strong and hits with such authority.”
White County finally got something going offensively in the sixth inning when it was clear that Taylor Long was tired. The Lady Warriors scored three runs in that inning to make it a bit closer, but Taylor Long finished the game out strong and shut them down from there to get the 7-3 victory. Hufstetler shared her thoughts on that second game.
“We came out and got on the board early,” Hufstetler said. “We wanted to keep the momentum from the first game. We had kind of that wonky inning where we let them get back in the game. It’s hard with Taylor throwing backto-back, full games sometimes. She was a little tired. She was able to get back in it, and her defense helped her out some. If I counted right, she had thirteen (strikeouts) in both games – a little less than her normal. Still, it was a very good day for her. Anytime she’s throwing, we have a very good shot of winning.”
With the series win, Sonoraville advances to the second round of the playoffs and were to travel to Watkinsville to take on Oconee County on Friday. The first two games will be at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. that day, and if a third game is needed, it will be played on Saturday at 10 a.m. See a future edition of the Calhoun Times or visit us online at CalhounTimes.com for coverage of that game.