The Raiders were matched more than evenly enough to hold their own, but the Dragons' highly-touted pitching proved too difficult to hit in either game of Thursday's doubleheader.
The month of May got off to a rough start for the Crusaders as they lost via walk-off to Piedmont and Thomas Jefferson, and were crushed in a rematch with Tallulah Falls, on their last road trip of the regular season.
The Yellow Jackets forced overtime with a late goal, but the Raiders answered, and dug deep defensively to win 2-1 and advance to their first-ever state semifinal.
Three silver medalists led the Crusaders at last weekend's state meet, following a runner-up performance at region. The Irish, Falcons and Raiders, meanwhile, qualified 15-plus for state in last weekend's GHSA sectional action.
The Raiders followed up a heart-pounding extra inning win with a five-inning rout to take the brooms to the Bruins Thursday, and advance to the round of eight for the first time since 2021.
The Raiders' teams both clinched spots in the AAA state tournament, coming up May 18-19 in LaGrange, with their top-three finishes Tuesday in Statesboro.
The Raider boys kept things high and tight in another shutout Wednesday, after Heritage hit two top-corner targets to take out their girls in a second-straight upset Tuesday night.
The Raiders' recent struggles coming up with big hits with runners in scoring position finally ran their course in multiple big innings of Friday's confident wins.
The Crusaders continued their hot offensive streak as they built a pair of solid leads, but ultimately had to hold on to win their final home game 12-10 on Saturday.
The Hurricanes, thanks to a key fifth-inning RBI and costly Irish error on a tough bounce in the top of the seventh, came out on top of Saturday's winner-take-all game following a split on Friday.
