Lady Jacekts heading to state round at Columbus after winning latest round
The Rockmart Lady Jackets are taking a trip to Columbus as their run through the Class AA state playoffs with a pair of wins over Thomasville in the second round Wednesday.
"They drove a long way, and it's tough. But that's part of the playoffs. I'm proud of my girls for coming out and working hard," head coach Steve Luke said.
The 30-2 Lady Jackets won 9-1 in Game 1 after finishing off the Lady Bulldogs in the bottom of the sixth after putting up a pair of runs in the second, three in the third, and added a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Lady Bulldogs had thrown out Rockmart's Anna Lewis and Emily Maulding at home in attempts to score, but a two out rally started with a ground rule double by Shana Abram, followed up with an RBI singles from Emma Evans and Cambree Stanley.
Rockmart rounded up the game with a Emily Lovelace home run and a single that scored Lewis on a slide into home plate and dropped ball, making up for the called out from the pre-vious inning.
"I think we played a little nervous in the first game. It was the first game in the last eight that our one and two hitters didn't get a hit in the game," Luke said. "The bats woke up in the
second game."
Game 2 ended after four innings of play with another 12-0 win over Thomasville, this time turning the game into a hit-ting clinic against the Lady Bulldogs' Logan Milam.
After scoring a pair of runs early on, Caroline Conring stepped up to the plate and knocked a homerun over the left field wall, which was her fifth of the season. It also scored a second run.
Then Taylor Camp came to the plate and knocked a solo homerun as well.
In the second inning, Rockmart added another three runs with an RBI single off of Kelsea Elrod and a Lovelace standup double.
Stanley later slapped a ball into right field and scored three runs which included a speedy trip around the bases for an in the park homerun. Conring later hit an RBI single in the in-ning and following a bad throw from Thomasville allowed Lewis to come home after coming into run for Lovelace.
Rockmart will be back in action on Oct. 27 in the first round of the playoffs against the winner of the Jeff Davis-Oglethorpe County games.
Luke, in his fourth trip to Columbus in the opening round of the championships in Class AA softball, said that his team will have to play loose in order to succeed.
It also marked another milestone for the Lady Jackets: Mag-gie Lindsey will be making her second trip to the next round, and she's the only player in Rockmart history to do so.
"You can't go in tight. The game itself is going to get you, and the pressure is going to get you," he said. "We've got to play loose and let it all out."