Worth County Lady Rams advance to second round of playoffs

SYLVESTER — For the second time in a week, Worth County found itself trailing in a game that, if won by the Lady Rams, would eliminate their opponent from the playoffs.

Just like the last time they had their backs against the wall, the Lady Rams mounted a comeback to knock out the opposition, this time beating Hampton 8-0 and 9-4 in consecutive games to eliminate the Lady Hornets from the Class AAAA state softball playoffs on Wednesday.

With the victories, Worth advances to the second round where they will be at home again in the second round next week with a trip to the state tournament in Columbus on the line.

“They are just resilient,” Worth coach Kaleb Hathcock said. “They love to compete. They never feel like we are out of a game and they know we have been in this situation before.”

In the first game of the series, the Lady Rams broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fifth inning. After two consecutive walks by Taylor White and Lindsey Toneygay, Newton helped her own cause by hitting a single between first and second that gave Worth a 1-0 lead.

On the next at-bat, Brinsley Graddy lined one up the middle over the pitcher’s head scoring Newton and Toneygay and giving the Lady Rams a 3-0 lead.

A three-run lead was more than enough for Newton, who pitched a complete game and struck out nine batters. She allowed just two hits and four total baserunners.

The Lady Rams added five more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a run-scoring single by McKenzie Newell, Abbey Adkins came up with the bases loaded and hit a grand slam to run rule Hampton and give Worth an 8-0 victory in Game 1.

“I was throwing strikes and my defense good behind me,” Newton said. “We weren’t missing the little plays like we kind of did in the second inning (of Game 2).”

Adkins finished the game 2 for 3 with a single and grand slam. In addition to pitching a gem, Newton also went 1 for 2 with two runs scored.

In Game 2, Hampton, the home team in the second game, jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning after a leadoff home run by Christen Florence. The teams traded leads through the first two innings but Hampton led 4-2 in the fourth inning before the Lady Rams mounted a comeback.

Worth scored four runs in the fourth inning with the big blow coming on a two-run triple by Graddy that gave the Lady Rams a 6-4 lead.

“I knew she was playing deep,” Graddy said. “I tried to hit it that way so we could score some runs.”

After Worth re-took the lead, Newton allowed just one runner to reach base. She finished the game with seven strikeouts.

In the top of the sixth inning, Toneygay mashed a home run to dead center to give the Lady Rams a 7-4 lead.

Worth added two more runs in the top of the seventh to make the score 9-4.

Toneygay finished 2 for 4 in the second game with a single and home run. White went 4 for 5 in the second matchup with three singles and a double.