SOFTBALL: East Laurens holds off ACE to go back-to-back as region champion

For a second-straight year, East Laurens battled its way through a difficult schedule – and a tough clinching game – to emerge as region 2-High A champion Wednesday night on its home field. 

The Falcons hung on to beat ACE Charter 3-2, splitting out the teams’ regular season series and clinching the region crown on a tiebreaker of lesser runs allowed in region play (a count of 17-22). 

That piece of news appeared to be delivered to the team by their coaches as players gathered outside the dugout after an emotional last out, and some expressions of mere relief after a long, tiring game suddenly turned jubilant on the way in for postgame handshakes. 

GALLERY: From learning the news they’d clinched the region title, to receiving their trophy, a frame-by-frame look at the Falcons’ postgame celebration…

Players of each team circled up to recite the Lord’s prayer, then Falcons lined up to thank their fans before beginning the celebration in left field. 

Just before some high-fives, chants, photo ops and an ambush of assistant coach Dwayne Lowther with the water cooler, Laurens County Schools athletic director Jeff Clayton presented the region trophy, which will go in the case alongside a first in program history won last season by many of this squad’s returning players. 

This level of region excellence, at one point a rarity on the softball field, has now become a tradition on the Eastside. 

“It feels really good,” head coach Danielle Lowther said. “We’ve been preparing all summer, all season. For this group of girls to go back-to-back, and that’s never been done in school history, it says a lot about them.” 

There was a definite sense of unfinished business entering the game for the Falcons (20-6, 17-1 region 2-High A) , after their late lead got away in the final innings of a first go-round with ACE in Macon Aug. 27, when the Gryphons walked off in the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run by Karlee Yates. 

“We should’ve beat them up there,” Coach Lowther said. “We knew that we gave it to them, really. We let our guards down, and they came back and beat us… We knew we were a better team. We’d been preaching it to them, we’d been reminding them from practice to practice to practice that, hey, we were the better team. We just lost focus for a few minutes.” 

ACE had the makings of another comeback in place Wednesday, getting its tying run up to third in two of the last three innings. But the Gryphons couldn’t come up with the key extra hit needed to push it home. 

The final standoff had Ella Allen on the verge of equalizing, after leading off with a single to right, advancing on a ground ball and picking up third on a wild pitch – all with just one out. 

But East Laurens pitcher DeAndrea Lowther, who was as hungry for redemption as any Falcon after going down for the loss against the Gryphons earlier in the season, dug deep to get the two final outs on strikes, setting down Madisyn Hallar with a nasty changeup, then Avery Stone on another swing and miss to end it. 

“When we left that game at ACE, she was different,” Coach Lowther said. “She wanted to get another chance at them. She did, and she came out on the winning end.” 

DeAndrea struck out eight, with six hits and a hit batter, but no walks in the complete game. 

The sophomore has split innings in the circle with her older sister Deanna throughout the season, and coaches were torn between the two options for Wednesday’s starting nod. 

Their preference for the defensive alignment behind her, with Deanna, Abigail Holt, Jon’Nica Russell and Jayla Givens each in their most ideal infield positions around the horn from third, won out. 

“It helped, Andrea being able to come back from injury, her being able to fill a void and us being able to pitch her and let our defense stay intact,” Coach Lowther said. “We were debating. Do we want to put Deanna or do we want to put Andrea up there? But I think we have a better defensive team when she’s up there.” 

East scored all three of its runs early, picking up a first pair in the bottom of the second on RBIs by Madison Coleman and DeAndrea Lowther. Russell led off the third with a well-hit triple to right, and came home to score on a wild pitch that made it 3-0 Falcons. 

They weren’t able to add any insurance in the three remaining innings, a best shot coming in the bottom of the sixth, when Brynne Moody drew a hit-by-pitch, and Holt a walk, to put two aboard with no outs. But a visit to the circle calmed down ACE’s Allen, who got the Falcons to ground into a fielder’s choice at third, line out to left and pop out to second to stymie the threat. 

The Gryphons scored once in the fourth on an RBI double by Sophie Denney, but DeAndrea got a groundout to second to prevent the Gryphons from doubling their run total. 

The pressure resumed in the fifth, with back-to-back singles out of the gate. East Laurens defenders eased it a bit with two quick outs, as Givens tracked down a foul ball next to the dugout netting and Deanna gloved a soft pop to third. 

The Falcons were a strike away from setting down the next three batters, but could only get the last after ACE had narrowed their lead to just one. 

Hallar stretched her at-bat and was hit by a 2-2 pitch to load the bases. Stone put a two-strike pitch in play up the third base line, and the Falcons’ throw to the plate was too high for a chance at the force out as Giselle Giles scored to make it 3-2. 

The 0-for-2 Yates, presented with the same opportunity for some late-game heroics, threatened to tie or worse in the same count of pitches, but this time went down swinging to leave the bases full. 

Reese Thames’ bouncing hit was all ACE could come up with in the sixth. 

East was led by a pair of base hits from Erin Northcutt. Both Lowther sisters, Coleman and Russell added one each, making up the Falcons’ six as a team. 

Allen struck out one and gave out three free passes. The sides committed one error apiece. 

East – by virtue of its top region finish – will have the sixth overall seed, and luxury of home field in both the two rounds of action that lead up to the GHSA tournament in Columbus. After two years of conducting the preliminary phase in a four-team regional style, the GHSA is returning to a traditional head-to-head format with a best-of-three series in each round. 

The Falcons will host 27th-seeded Oglethorpe County, with games 1 and 2 Friday and a rubber game, if needed, following Saturday. First-pitch times, for Friday’s session, are slated for 12 and 2 p.m.