Worth County, Baconton fall at state softball tournament

COLUMBUS — Getting to the state softball tournament was the fun part for a pair of Albany-area schools.

But losing two games and watching the season come to an end wasn’t very fun for the Worth County Lady Rams or the Baconton Lady Blazers.

Both teams began the double-elimination tournament on Friday in the loser’s bracket. Baconton Charter lost to Echols County 3-0 in the Class A public school classification.

Earlier in the day, Worth County was shut out by Walnut Grove 4-0 in Class AAAA.

After Baconton (27-4) had defeated Schley County 5-4 in the first game of the tournament on Thursday, the Lady Blazers were sent to the loser’s bracket following a 7-2 loss to Trion Thursday night.

But Baconton couldn’t muster any offense and watched its season come to an end.

Worth County’s pitching was good enough to get the Lady Rams to the state tournament, but the offense went cold as they failed to score a run in their two losses.

The Lady Rams were shut down by Walnut Grove ace Riley Patton who allowed just one hit in the complete-game victory. Taylor Layfield had Worth County’s only hit. Patton struck out 14.

Caroline Newton took the loss. She pitched well but walked one, struck out two, and allowed four runs.

The game was never in doubt after the second, as Walnut Grove scored one run on an RBI single by Maddi Perry.

Walnut Grove tacked on another three runs in the third.