Lee County softball climbs to No. 2 in Class 6A after sweeping Veterans

LEESBURG — Lee County has spent seven years climbing back to this view.

Now there is only one team above the Lady Trojans.

Lee County rose to No. 2 in the GHSA Class 6A power rankings after sweeping Veterans 7-4 and 7-1 Tuesday in Kathleen. At 25-3, the Region 2 champions trail only South Effingham, which is 23-2.

For a program that last reached these heights during its 2019 state runner-up season, the ranking carries some weight. So does the timing.

The state playoffs begin next week, Lee County will open at home and first-year head coach Hannah Spencer has the Lady Trojans entering the postseason looking every bit like a championship contender.

Final rankings and playoff pairings will be announced Friday.

If anyone wondered how Lee County climbed this high, Tuesday’s doubleheader provided two answers.

In the opener, the Lady Trojans refused to lose.

In the nightcap, they never gave Veterans much reason to believe it could win.

The first game stretched nine innings and pushed Lee County to the edge. Veterans took a 2-0 lead in the third when Bella Fendley homered to left, but the Lady Trojans tied it in the fourth on an error and Kinley Shepard’s sacrifice bunt.

Veterans struck again in the sixth. Kendra Levi doubled home two runs, giving the Warhawks a 4-2 lead and leaving Lee County three outs from defeat.

Tina Benton needed one swing to change the afternoon.

Benton launched a two-run homer to left in the seventh, pulling the Lady Trojans even and sending the game into extra innings. Neither team scored in the eighth.

Then Porter Butler stepped in.

Butler had already doubled in the fifth and singled in the seventh. In the ninth, she drove a two-run homer to right that finally broke the tie. Reese Watkins followed with a run-scoring fielder’s choice, giving Lee County a 7-4 lead.

Benton returned to the circle and finished what she started, closing out a nine-inning complete game. She allowed seven hits, struck out seven and walked three.

Lee County collected 11 hits and did not commit an error. Butler finished 3-for-5, while Kennady Patrick added two hits.

After all that tension, Watkins made the second game feel almost routine.

Brylyn Parsons gave Lee County an immediate lead with a first-inning homer to left. Watkins took it from there, holding Veterans to two hits and one unearned run over seven innings.

The right-hander worked around six walks and never surrendered the hit that might have allowed the Warhawks back into the game.

Lee County broke it open in the sixth. Butler brought home a run on a groundout before Benton struck again, launching a two-run homer to center.

Parsons finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. Benton and Aubree Spencer drew two walks apiece as the Lady Trojans worked nine walks in the game.

Maddy Kinkade collected both Veterans hits, and Ansley Murkerson drove in the Warhawks’ lone run.

The sweep added two victories to Lee County’s record, but it also revealed something more important with the postseason approaching.

This team can absorb a punch. It can wait for its moment. It can win with power, pitching and defense. And when one player does not deliver, another usually does.

Benton rescued the opener with her arm and bat. Butler delivered the decisive swing. Watkins quieted Veterans in the nightcap. Parsons provided the early spark.

That is how a team wins 25 of 28 games. It is how a first-year head coach guides a program to a region championship. And it is how Lee County has returned to a position it has not occupied since its run to the state championship game seven years ago.

The final bracket comes Friday. The playoffs begin next week.

For now, the number beside Lee County’s name says enough.

No. 2 — with only one team left to chase.