Lady Tigers finish 4th in sub-region, now competing in 8AA tournament

JALEESA HAMPTON MAKES A BREAK FOR SECOND BASE IN A RECENT GAME The W-W Lady Tigers are playing in the region tournament in Rabun County this week.

The Washington-Wilkes Lady Tigers softball team finished its regular season with a loss but a strong showing against the #2-ranked North Oconee Titans. The team entered the Region 8AA playoffs on Tuesday, Octrober 9, but results were not known as of this writing.

The past week wasn't so kind to the Ladies as they dropped from third to fourth place in Region 8AA South. Despite a convincing win over Greene County, the loss to N. Oconee and another to Putnam County during the week took their toll. On Tuesday, the Tigers played East Jackson at Rabun County beginning at 3:30 p.m.

A win in the first game would send the girls into a Thursday match against host Rabun County at 3:30 p.m. The opponent in the event of a loss would be determined by the outcome of other games in the double-elimination tournament. At the end of the Region 8AA tournament, the top four teams will advance to the first round of the state playoffs.

North Oconee leads 8AA South going into the region playoff and is followed closely by Morgan County. The two are ranked #2 and #3 in the state, respectively. Oglethorpe occupies the third spot in the region with W-W in fourth.

Most recently, on Thursday, October 4, the Tigers gave the N. Oconee Titans a scare. Through four innings W-W was down 0-1 and then rain brought a 30-minute delay. After the rain, the Titans score six runs in the fifth inning to put the score at 0-7.

But the Tigers battled back with some clutch hitting by Nikki Freeman and Jaleesa Hampton. Between them they knocked in four runs on Freeman's double and Hampton's home run. It was Hampton's second round tripper of the year.

"This was by far our best hitting performance off one of the toughest pitchers in the state," Head Coach Rob Jackson said. "Scoring fiveruns off of the the pitcher we faced is very encouraging, especially leading into the region playoffs. Hopefully this will boost our offence and give our team some conficenceheading into the region tournament."

Leading hitters for the Tigers against N. Oconee were Lindsey Guin (1-3), Ashley West (1-3), Tiffany Bowling (1-3), Lauren Harrison (1-3, 2b), Freeman (1-3, 2b), and Hampton (2-3, hr).

The day before, W-W absorbed a tough 2-3 loss to the Putnam County War Eagles. The Tigers put two runs on the board in the sixth and came up just short in the seventh leaving runners on first and second. Cayla Gilland pitched well but suffered the lost. Leading hitters for the Tigers were Guin (2-4), West (2-3), and Taylor Echols (2-4).

On Tuesday, October 2, the Lady Tigers beat Greene County 11-1 in their only win of the week. The Tigers scored 11 runs on nine hits in the game. Leading hitters for the Tigers were Ashley Burt (1-4), Lauren Harrison (2-3), Guin (2-3), West (1-3), Hampton (1-3), and Bowling (2-3). Gilland pitched a complete game for the Tigers allowing one unearned run on one hit and fivestrikeouts.

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