Olivia Lane slides safely under the tag as she steals second base during the first game against Grovetown Saturday.
But first they were to play in the region final four Wednesday and Thursday at Greenbrier High School in Evans, hoping to steal a region crown or, at the least, earn a high seed for the state playoffs.
Jones County, which won the 2010 state championship, failed to advance to the state playoffs for the first time since 2000 when it fell in the second round of the Region 3-AAAA playoffs last season. But that was a very strong region that saw all four teams that qualified for state advance to the Elite 8 and three of them, Northgate, Whitewater and Ola, finish first, second and third in the state, in that order.
Now up a class, the Lady Hounds’ new region hasn’t proved as challenging top to bottom, but it will still be a tall order for Blake Lyons’ sophomore- and freshmen-heavy lineup to finish first or second in the region final four to earn the right to host a first-round series in the state playoffs, which start Oct. 10.
The Lady Hounds (14-14-1), the second seed from the B subregion, were to face host team Greenbrier (22-6), the top seed from the A subregion, in the opening round at 1 p.m. on Wednesday. Greenbrier is the school Jones County beat in the championship game in 2010, so it has a long winning tradition in softball, and the Wolfpack is ranked sixth in the state coach’s poll, the only team in the region included in the top 10.
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