West Laurens handles Hardaway, heads to second round

Home teams don’t often – actually, never – get the chance to walk off game 2 of a playoff series. 

But West Laurens did it in memorable fashion Wednesday afternoon with its 35th run in a short, sweet sweep of Hardaway to move on from the opening round of the GHSA playoffs. 

The visiting Hawks waived their right to bat as the home team in the second game, recognizing that it’d mean a required third full at-bat for the Raiders, who were bound to score plenty in just two per contest. 

But a run in the Hardaway half of the third, on an RBI single by Shelby Huff that snuck past a diving infielder to bring the margin back just inside the mercy rule’s three-inning threshold of 15, brought West Laurens back to the plate in the bottom half anyway. 

The Raiders tied up the lingering loose end in a single swing to recoup that run, and clinch the victory as Zoey Wood, on to pinch hit for Demmie Moss, took a 1-0 pitch over the fence just inside the left field foul pole for a solo homer. 

A dugout’s worth of smiling faces were waiting to congratulate the freshman as she crossed home plate to send West – a winner by finals of 18-1 and 17-2 – on to the second round for the 12th season in a row. 

The Raiders (23-7, 6-2 region 3-AAAA) will host 18th seed Adairsville (which swept Mary Persons 10-1 and 6-2) next Wednesday and Thursday in search of their seventh-straight berth in the GHSA state tournament. 

West Laurens bats kept thumping with double-digit hits in each game, and two home runs to bring this team within one of tying the program’s single-season home run record of 30. 

Hardaway’s pitching staff, with just four walks for the afternoon, threw consistent strikes. But the Raiders had no issues putting those pitches in play, finding gaps repeatedly and just as often benefitting from fielding issues that led to 11 total errors. 

West Laurens out-hit the Hawks 12-2 in game 1, then 13-2 in game 2. 

The 4-for-6 Chandler Malone, 4-for-6 Paisley Powell, 3-for-5 Audrie Edenfield and 3-for-5 Madison Brown led the way at the plate. 

Wood, who was 2-for-2 with a single and round-tripper in pinch hit appearances both games, Moss, 2-for-3 with a three-run homer in game 1, and Peyton Crabb, 2-for-2 with a double and triple in game 2, also came through with big swings.  

Kinsley Moore, Rilynn Smith, Maggie Shea Lord, Ella Thompson and Allie Sahli also contributed hits to the two-game tally. 

Crabb struck out six Hawks, and gave up only two hits – both coming in the top of the first when Naryah Wilson singled and stole two bases, and Kamiya Whittlesey drove her home – in a walkless opening game performance. 

Moss and Edenfield split up the three innings of pitching work in the finale, giving up a hit apiece.

They each issued one walk. Moss struck out four over two and change, and Edenfield one in the remaining two-thirds of an inning. 

Series details for next week’s set with Adairsville had not been finalized at press time.