Lady Hounds come up short of another Elite Eight trip

GREYHOUND SOFTBALL

  • The Lady Greyhounds make the play to get the out and cover first during Friday’s state tournament game against Northside Columbus BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    The Lady Greyhounds make the play to get the out and cover first during Friday’s state tournament game against Northside Columbus BRAD HARRISON/Staff
  • Aniya Canty (21) comes up with the ground ball to fire it across the infield. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    Aniya Canty (21) comes up with the ground ball to fire it across the infield. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
  • Ansley Pegg rips a hard pitch toward the plate on Friday against Northside. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    Ansley Pegg rips a hard pitch toward the plate on Friday against Northside. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
  • Taylor Nipper applies the tag to try and get the out on a stolen-base attempt. BRAD HARRISON/Staff
    Taylor Nipper applies the tag to try and get the out on a stolen-base attempt. BRAD HARRISON/Staff

    Jones County came into last week’s GHSA Super Regional with visions of punching yet another ticket to the Elite 8 in Columbus.

    Trouble was, Northside-Columbus, a perennial state powerhouse, stood in the way.

    Jones County’s run for a fourth trip to Columbus in a row ended Friday afternoon in the double-elimination, four-team tournament in a 5-0 loss, knocking out the Lady Greyhounds who did what they had done all year – dug deep to rally back.

    Jones County fell behind early against Coffee on Thursday, a comeback falling just short in an 8-7 loss.

    “We talked to them about battling back; they did that and did all we asked of them,” Lady Greyhounds head coach Tripp Burt said. “It’s definitely a tougher road. We just came up a bit short to start off.”

    That put the Lady Hounds’ backs to the wall, and they responded in turn. Firstly, there was Thursday afternoon’s loser’s bracket game against Arabia Mountain, a game that JCHS easily won 8-0.

    Then, in another game with elimination on the line, Jones County won a rematch with Coffee, eliminating the Trojans with a 14-0 win, setting up a matchup with Northside, where Jones County would need a pair of wins to advance.

    Northside’s pitching would prove too much. That, and pair of early runs would be the difference as three more runs were pushed across in the seventh.

    “Their pitcher threw well; she’s really good,” Burt said. “They did a good job keeping the top of our lineup off base, and that kind of slanted things just a little bit.”

    A key in Jones County sparking offensive rallies this year has been the ability of Kimber Kent and Shayla Pennington to reach base off of bunts or infield hits, but Northside limited that, limiting how much either were able to reach base.

    Down 2-0 going to the sixth inning, the Lady Greyhounds made one final run at tying the game. With both Pennington and Kent having reached bases, Northside opted to intentionally walk Aniya Canty, loading the bases for Ciara Stephens. It turned out to be the day’s most dramatic moment, as Stephens forced a 3-2 count and fouled off pitch after pitch before finally striking out, ending the inning.

    “We had a great at bat; we just didn’t catch a break there,” Burt said.

    Northside put the game away an inning later, ending the career of a senior class that leaves with three trips to Columbus, a state title, one final four appearance and two region titles.

    “We had a special group of seniors,” Burt said. “This year, they came out with a lot of fight, they had a lot of fight at the end.”