The top seeded Dodge County Middle School Lady Warriors began the playoffs last Tuesday as they host Dublin. As was the case in the regular season, the Lady Irish were totally overmatched as Dodge rolled into Saturday’s semi-final game against Vidalia.
Haley Holloway breezed through the top of the first as she had a pair of strikeouts and Dodge came to bat and they would hit for quite awhile. Leah Creech would single to start the inning and she stole second. One out later, Margaret Simmons doubled her in for a 1-0 lead. A hit by Lizzie Massingill would put two runners on for Kaylee Peterson, who drove in Simmons for a 2-0 lead.
A triple by Brianna Perdue would drive in Massingill and Peterson for a 4-0 lead. Walks to Chelsey Brady and Creech, with a single by Holloway would reload the bases with two outs. Lindsey Crummey and Simmons drove in runs and the lead would reach 6-0.
The inning that never seemed to end just kept going as Perdue drove in her second run of the inning, Brady walked with the bases loaded and Holloway drove in a pair of runs as Dodge sent 20 batters to the plate and 14 scored a Dodge would take a 14-0 led in the second.
Julianna Belflower took over for Holloway on the mound. She recorded a pair of strikeouts as the Lady Warriors kept their 14-0 lead going into the bottom of the third as they needed just one run to end the game. Kylie Dix singled with one out for the Lady Warriors. With two outs, Haleigh Pavesich would single her home and it would make the final 15-0 in three innings.
On Saturday, Dodge hosted Vidalia in the semi-finals. Vidalia got on the board in the first to take a 1-0 lead. The Lady Warriors had a big answer in the bottom of the first. Leah Creech and Lindsey Crummey singled to begin the inning.
Simmons lined a single to center scoring Creech to tie the game at 1-1. Massingill reached on a fielders choice scoring Crummey and Dodge would take a 2-1 lead. Peterson hit a long double to left as Simmons and Massingill would score for a 4-1 Dodge lead. Perdue hit a sacrifice fly scoring Peterson for a 5-1 lead at the end of the first.
Perdue got the start and had three strike-outs through two innings. The lead was still 5-1 going to the bottom of the third. Peterson hit a one out double that scored Allie Parkerson who singled for a 6-1 game. Brady singled in Peterson with two outs for a 7-1 game.
The Dodge lead was 7-2 going to the bottom of the fourth. Parkerson singled with two outs. Peterson reached on an error with two outs scoring Parkerson giving Dodge an 8-2 lead.
Vidalia scored a run in the fifth for a 8-3 game. Dodge got the run back in the bottom of the fifth as Brady scored for a 9-3 game. Vidalia scored a pair of runs in the sixth for a 9-5 game. Massingill lead off the sixth with a single and would score on a ground out by Perdue for a 10-5 lead. Vidalia scored one in the seventh but Dodge would hang on for a 10-6 win. Perdue was the winning pitcher with five strikouts.
The championship game was now set as Dodge and West Laurens would meet for a third time. Dodge won a pair one run thrillers during the season.
Holloway had a pretty easy top of the first and Dodge went to work in the bottom of the inning. Simmons walked with two outs to get things started. Parkerson hit a double to left center field scoring Simmons for a 1-0 Dodge lead. Massingill followed with a double to left, scoring Parkerson for a 2-0 Dodge lead. Holloway would help herself two batters later on a single to center and Dodge would lead 3-0 after the first inning. Dodge would add to the lead in the second. Creech would reach on an error to begin the inning and would score on Parkerson’s ground out and Dodge would lead 4-0 going into the third.
The Lady Raiders would get a run in the third, but they would strand a runner on third. The Lady Raiders would continue to chip away at the Dodge lead with a run in the fifth for a 4-2 game. The Lady Warriors used a double play to limit the damage.
Dodge would get a big insurance run in the bottom of the fifth. Singles from Brady, Creech and Crummey would load the bases with one out for Simmons. She never saw a pitch near the strike zone and the walk would give Dodge a 5-2 lead. Despite the lead, Dodge just couldn’t get the big hit that would put the game away, however things were about to change. Holloway pitched a strong sixth with two strikeouts. Dodge would come alive in the bottom of the inning. A single by Peterson and a walk to Holloway got things started. Brady’s ground ball put runners at second and third. Faith Manning got a big double scoring Peterson and Holloway for a 7-2 lead. A wild pitch scored Manning for an 8-2 lead. Creech would single and Crummey would sacrifice her to second. Simmons would drive home Creech for a 9-2 lead.
Parkerson would double down to the left field line and Simmons raced home and suddenly the game was over for the 10-2 Dodge championship win. Creech had three hits and scored a pair of runs out of the lead off spot. Simmons, Parkerson, Peterson and Brady all had two hits each.
