The postseason draw did the Lady Greyhounds few favors last week. Even still, Jones County forged its way to Atlanta’s northern suburbs last Monday to begin the GHSA Class AAAA state playoffs on the road against Cambridge.
That came as a result of being the region’s No. 3 seed thanks to losing out on a tiebreaker to Union Grove.
JCHS fought back multiple times in the first game before losing 4-2 prior to the second game seeing the Bears win 14-1, ending Jones County’s season at 19-8.
“We matched up against a really good team at their place; they’re solid all around.
We were able to scratch out a couple of runs against a good pitcher,” Lady Greyhounds head coach Tripp Burt said.
“We just had a few pitches that we barely missed, and if we could have pushed a couple of runs across, we could have gotten over the hump.”
Pitching kept the Lady Hounds in position as the first game went on.
“Cate Downey went out there and battled and pitched very well and kept some their really good hitters off-balance,” Burt said. “Our girls fought hard; we just couldn’t get the ball to fall when we needed it to.”
Last week’s loss continued a string of tough postseason draws for Jones County. While Cambridge’s win earned them a second-round matchup with Elite 8 frontrunner Harris County, Union Grove took down Westminster in the first round and drew Marist in the second round. A season ago, Jones County’s reward for fighting through the region was a first-round series at eventual runner-up Eastside.
Jones County’s postseason luck could change going forward with power rankings, not region standings, setting the postseason field.
“The past four or five years, we’ve had some tough draws.
I think the power rankings are going to do a good job of, if you do what you need to do in the regular season, you will have a better matchup in the postseason,” Burt said. “For us the past couple of years, we’ve had to go up against the state runner-up in Eastside, and a few years ago when we won our region, we had an eventual state champ Northside in our super regional, so I think it’ll do a better job of spreading people out.”
As JCHS looks forward, there’s a bit of solace in that just three seniors graduate, providing a strong group of which to make a run toward the postseason again.
Expected returners from this season’s junior class of eight players includes top offensive threats Marissa Moore, Genna Maki and Myah Briscoe and pitchers Kaleigh Scarborough and Ensley Barnes.
“We’ve had some seniors that have done a great job for us, moving this program along.
We have a big group of juniors, sophomores, and freshmen coming in, as well,” Burt said.
“The future is definitely bright, and we also have some that we’ll be getting back from injury. If we take care of business in the offseason, we can put ourselves in a really good position.”
That’ll include incoming freshmen, a common cycle thanks to a pair of successful middle school programs at Gray Station and Clifton Ridge middle schools.
“We’ve got great coaches pushing them,” Burt said.
“We’ve got some good players coming up year after year. So, we’re excited to see what we have, making the way up and hoping to keep developing them like they have in our middle schools.”
