FIGHT TO SURVIVE
♦ Lady Jackets battle rain, fatigue to earn state playoff berth
It will be nearly a week between games when the Rockmart softball team hosts Ringgold on Thursday.
After the gauntlet that the Lady Jackets had to run last week, the break will be much needed.
Rockmart played a total of five games in the course of five days last week, ending with a drawn- out, 5- 2 win over Adairsville on Friday that secured the Lady Jackets a berth in the Class 3A state playoffs.
After splitting with the Lady Tigers in a doubleheader on Thursday to start the region playoff series, Rockmart was forced into a decisive Game 3 that was held amid rain delays on the Lady Jackets’ home field.
Adairsville broke open the scoring with two runs in the fourth, but Rockmart answered with a pair of
runs in the bottom of the inning to even things up. The home team then added two more in the fifth and one in the sixth while keeping the visitors, and the rain, at bay.
Gracey Arnold had two RBIs for Rockmart, while Alexis Teems finished with three hits in the victory.
Emilee Register, Rockmart’s ace who pitched every inning of every game last week, struck out six while earning an RBI while at the plate. The senior completed the week with a 4- 1 record and 38 strikeouts.
Rockmart ( 19- 7) will be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed from Region 6- 3A in the state playoffs. Thursday’s game against Ringgold at Rockmart High School will determine the order, with the winner taking the No. 3 seed and the loser No. 4.
The start of last week’s series with Adairsville was a rocky one for the Lady Jackets as they gave up a tworun lead in the top of the fourth with a string of errors leading to a threerun inning for the visiting Lady Tigers, who went on to win 4- 2.
Teems led off the bottom of the first with a walk and then scored on an RBI- single from Register, while Arnold smacked a solo shot over the left field fence in the third. That would be all the offense Rockmart could muster, finishing the game with just two hits.
Game 2 saw Rockmart’s bats come alive a little more as the Lady Jackets had eight hits and used a three- run seventh to provide enough insurance to get a 6- 3 win and force a Game 3.
Teems went 3- for- 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and Arnold went 3- for- 4 with a triple and two RBIs as well. Sam Wolfe and Analee Morris had an RBI each.
The Lady Jackets began last week with back- to- back Region 6- 3A victories. Arnold and Morris had two RBIs each in a 6- 3 win over Ringgold on Monday, Oct. 5, while a fifth- run inning against Lakeview- Ft. Oglethorpe the next day put Rockmart on top on the way to a 7- 2 win.
Register had nine strikeouts against LFO and finished with three hits and four RBIs. Teems was next on the team with two RBIs.