Lady Bulldogs have rough week, losing 2 games
It was not a banner week for Cedartown softball.
The Lady Bulldogs dropped both of their non- region games last week, losing 10-1 at Bremen last Monday before dropping a 14-3 game to Haralson County on Saturday. Counting the Sept. 26 defeat at the hands of Cartersville, Cedartown lost three straight non-region tilts.
“We need to clean up just about everything, but I believe in my girls,” head coach Eddie Gambrell said. “We have to fix several things and get refocused on what we need to do.”
Poor performances have been few and far between for the Lady Bulldogs this season.
Despite playing some of the top softball squads in north Georgia like HeritageCatoosa, Central- Carroll, and Mt. Zion-Carroll, Cedartown has been unable to hold their own against virtually every opponent.
While last week could be viewed as a rare occurrence, it nonetheless comes at a bad time as Cedartown plays its final Region 7-4A series of the season this week against Northwest Whitfield.
The Lady Bulldogs have already clinched a playoff spot, as they will finish as one of the top four teams in the region. However, Cedartown is one win away from clinching the three-seed.
Cedartown ( 15- 11, 9- 6 7-4A) sits two games ahead of Northwest Whitfield (1312, 7-7) in the region standings. If Cedartown wins one of its final three games against the Lady Bruins, they will take the threeseed in Region 7-4A.
Though they are unable to host a playoff game in the first round, there is still a huge difference in traveling to play another region’s champion — which is the four-seed’s curse — and playing another region’s runnerup — which is reserved for a three-seed.
The Lady Bulldogs mustered only three hits in the nine-run loss to Bremen. Kaylee Nikolopoulus, Taylor Westmoreland and Marycille Brumby were the only Cedartown batters to
record a hit in the game. Emme Arp suffered her first non-quality start of the season, as well
timed batting and poorlytimed defensive mistakes resulted in many early runs for the Lady Blue Devils, who plated three runs in the first, one run in the second, four runs in the third, and two runs in the fourth inning.
After that tough loss, the Lady Bulldogs tried to change their fortunes against teams off Highway 27 in Saturday’s non-region contest with Haralson County. Cedartown was unable to defend their home turf successfully.
Just as CHS run-ruled Haralson County in Tallapoosa earlier in the season, Cedartown was mercy-ruled in six innings by the Lady Rebels on Saturday.
Reagan Clarke allowed 16 hits and six earned runs in the loss, striking out two in five innings of work. Alexas Poole was 2-for-2 with one run scored while Ava Allred was 2-for-3 with one run. Carlie Holland, 1-for-2 on the day, finished with a run scored as well.
The final series of the season kicks off Tuesday as Cedartown travels to Northwest Whitfield for two games before the Lady Bulldogs host the Lady Bruins on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.