Ringgold to open playoffs on the road
The Ringgold Lady Tigers won the Class AAA state title last year after coming out of the Region 6 playoffs as the No. 4 seed, and they’ll have to take the same path again this season if they are going to make it three state championships in a row.
Ringgold, the No. 3 seed in the 6-AAA playoffs, secured a spot in the 32-team state field last Monday night by sweeping visiting Murray County, the No. 6 seed, two games to none in the bestof-three series.
However, after several weather postponements, the Lady Tigers fell to No. 4 seed Rockmart in a onegame playoff on Saturday. As a result, Ringgold will be the No. 4 seed from the region in the state tournament for the second straight season.
Ringgold 6, Murray County 0
In last Monday’s opener, senior Ava Raby sent two shots out of the park and accounted for half of the Lady Tigers’ runs. Raby golfed a solo shot over the left-center field fence in the bottom of the third inning and added a two-run shot to the same part of the field in fifth.
Baileigh Pitts had three hits, including a double and a triple, and scored twice. Taylor Layne had two of Ringgold’s 10 hits and swiped two bases. Maddy Bacon doubled, while Riley Heard and Addi Broome drove in one run apiece.
Aubrey Lakin pitched seven strong innings, allowing just five hits and striking out three batters without issuing a walk.
Ringgold 17, Murray County 2
Playing as the visiting team in the nightcap, the Blue-and-White exploded for five runs in the top of the first inning and never looked back.
Zoey DeFoor had a oneout single, Pitts added an RBI-triple and Raby drew a walk before Riley Burdette laced a two-run double. Bacon came through with an RBI-double and took third on an error before scoring on a bunt single by Layne.
Burdette had another tworun double in the top of the second, while DeFoor drove in a run with a double in the third, and the Lady Tigers blew the game wide open with six more runs in the top of the fourth. That frame began with four straight walks before Pitts brought in two with a single.
Pitts finished 3 for 4 with a triple, three runs scored and four RBIs, while Burdette had five RBIs in the game. DeFoor had two hits, including a double. She scored three times and drove in two runs. Bacon was 2 for 3 and Raby added a double and drew three walks, while scoring three runs. Layne, Breanna Freeman and Emma Stevenson knocked in one run each.
Bacon pitched all four innings and allowed just three hits. She walked four and struck out three and neither of the runs she allowed were earned as both of the Lady Indians’ runs came on a error.
Rockmart 12, Ringgold 8
Despite beating the Lady Jackets in both regular season meetings, the Lady Tigers came up short in the 6-AAA consolation game on Saturday at Hazel Brown Field.
A four-run fourth inning gave visiting Rockmart a 6-3 lead after they had trailed 3-2 three innings into the contest. The Lady Tigers got a run back in the sixth, but the Lady Jackets exploded for six runs in the top of the seventh.
Ringgold took advantage of three errors in the bottom of the seventh to score four times, but the Blue-and-White still came up four runs short of forcing extra innings.
Layne went 2 for 3 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored. Broome had a hit, scored once and drove in two runs. Heard was 2 for 5 with an RBI. Bacon had two hits and scored two runs. Burdette doubled in a run and DeFoor also collected an RBI.
Lakin went 3.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits and four walks. Bacon threw 2.1 innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits and a walk with three strikeouts, while Layne gave up four earned on five hits in her one inning of work.
Ringgold (18-7) will travel to Region 8 champion Franklin County (18-6) for a best-of-three series this week. The series will begin with a 5 p.m. doubleheader this Wednesday.
It will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Lady Tigers beat the Lady Lions in Carnesville in the 2019 Class AAA state finals.