SOFTBALL: East Laurens survives the sixths to take down Swainsboro in first round

The fact that no East Laurens player wears the No. 16 made setting up Thursday’s postgame photo a bit problematic, as the Falcons debated amongst themselves a clever pose to commemorate their latest “Sweet 16” berth. 

At first, the idea was floated for each to form the shape of the digits 1 and 6 with the hands of crisscrossed arms, but the proposal was shot down by coaches concerned that the gesture may give some the wrong idea. 

An alternative called for some implicit math, with the backs of No. 15 Brynne Moody and No. 1 DeAndrea Lowther facing the camera side-by-side. But this would have required some creative editing to add a plus sign in between. 

Head coach Danielle Lowther, when the quandary came to her attention, had the great suggestion of simply running inside the clubhouse to grab the unused No. 16 jersey. Deanna Lowther went to fetch it, and the photographic memory was made. 

East’s first-round playoff series with Swainsboro, much like this moment after it was all over, was never as simple or straightforward as anyone drew it up. But the answer was also never far away for the Falcons as they navigated a troublesome inning in each of three games to come through with the pair of wins needed to advance. 

They’re headed to the second round for, technically, the second-straight season, although you can likely count regional finals appearances (under a separate playoff format) in 2022 and 23 as just the same to make it a streak of four in a row for the two players who make up the program’s current senior class. 

And both of those, Deanna Lowther and Abigail Holt, were selected to hold that No. 16 jersey in the postgame pic. 

East Laurens stubbed its toe in game 1, falling 4-2, before a rebound to split Wednesday’s doubleheader by a 2-1 final. But the Falcons led the whole way in Thursday’s rubber match, shaking off some late trouble to win 4-2. 

“It’s kind of like it’s pressure off of us,” Danielle Lowther said. “My seniors, especially, wanted to do some good things finishing off their senior year. Just getting to the Sweet 16 is good for them. We’re looking to advance further.” 

The Falcons (22-6, 16-2 region 2-High A) will move on to face Bacon County next week in Alma, as they look to book a return trip to Columbus and the state tournament. 

Sixth innings were a trouble spot for East in every game of the series. 

Swainsboro didn’t score a run in any other frame either of the two days. But the Tigers got each of their four – and the only two hits pitcher DeAndrea Lowther allowed the whole game – as the Falcons came somewhat unraveled against a set of nine opposing batters in the opener. 

Three errors and a walk were sprinkled in to help the Tigers flip a two-run deficit into their final two-run lead. 

“We lost our composure,” Coach Lowther said. “We should’ve gotten outs that we didn’t. I think we we just were thinking too much, and the game slipped away from us.” 

But they rediscovered it later in the afternoon, overcoming a similar situation – as Swainsboro capitalized on an error with Lilly Hudson’s RBI single – to pick a tying run off base at third on the same play for a third out in the home half of the same inning. 

Yet another chance for redemption came Thursday, with East in control by a score of 3-0 headed to that fateful column of the scorebook. 

The Tigers, sure enough, proceeded to sneak two singles up the middle in between DeAndrea Lowther strikeouts to stage a threat. Then came back-to-back errors in the field that scored a pair to suddenly make it a one-run game. 

Once again, the Falcons reached back to find the outs they needed to preserve the one-run lead, and escape the inning. And a fielder’s choice at third got things to the seventh, which with two DeAndrea strikeouts and a flyout to set down the side in order, was comparatively smooth sailing. 

“The whole game, from inning to inning, we were just saying, ‘Stay composed, stay composed, stay composed,'” Coach Lowther said. “The sixth inning has been a booger for us all year. We were just trying to remind them to get one out at a time, stay composed through it all.” 

DeAndrea, the squad’s junior ace, pitched all three games of the series. 

She struck out 12 in the opener, 11 in game 2 and 10 in the finale, and gave up only seven hits total.

“She was ready for this game,” Coach Lowther said. “She tweaked her ankle at the beginning before we even started. I was a little concerned about that, but she was smiling, she was enjoying herself. And that’s especially what I liked.” 

DeAndrea also led Thursday’s hitting, with 3 out of her four ABs at the plate. She represented the first two runs, and drove in the last two. After a leadoff error in the first, she got to third on a passed ball to score on the sacrifice fly of Layla Rogers. In the third, Reagan Sasser followed her base hit with an immediate RBI. Maddie Rudd  scored on a DeAndrea RBI single to make it 3-0 East in the fourth.

In the bottom of the sixth, East Laurens got some much-needed insurance as a Moody ground ball rode the glove arm of a defender for an E5, Moody narrowly avoided being picked off on a line drive (as an errant throw got out of play to advance her to second) and DeAndrea poked one through a hole for another RBI. 

Both East Laurens runs in game 2 were scored in the fourth inning, which included hits by Deanna, Olivea Jackson, Avery Smith and Jayden Foskey. 

The Falcons had six hits – and Sasser two – against a duo of pitchers: Sydney Lively opening for Chloe Boulineau. 

East scored a run without a hit in the second inning of game 1, leveraging a walk, steal, passed ball and an error into the early lead, then doubling it on a similar situation in the fourth, where back-to-back walks and a groundout brought in the runner. The Falcons’ three hits, off of Boulineau who struck out five, were isolated to scoreless innings. 

She worked around two walks in the sixth and cut down the side 1-2-3 in the seventh to clinch the early Swainsboro victory.