VALDOSTA — Tift County split softball games with Lowndes Thursday, to win the season series 2-1, and establish itself as one of the teams to beat in Region 1-6A.
Lowndes won the opener, 4-3, with Tift runners at second and third with two outs in the top of the seventh. Game two was not nearly that close, a 12-1 blowout that saw the Lady Devils out-hit their hosts, 18-2.
Tuesday, Tift County won the first series contest at home against Lowndes since 2015. Thursday’s feat, a run-rule victory over Lowndes, is the first since … easily available records have not indicated. It dates back to earlier than 2012, however.
Ella Bruce homered in each game. Lowndes, opting to avoid her as much as possible otherwise, walked Bruce four times Thursday.
Hannah Grace Murphy went 4-for-4, driving in four runs. Lily Robinson and Marlee Veazey had three-hit nights and Braylin Dorden, Kinsley Tawzer and Riley Williams had two hits apiece.
Tift hitters had eight doubles to go along with Bruce’s homer.
A five-run third put Tift ahead 6-0. Lowndes got a run back in the bottom half, then the Lady Devils posted four in the next frame.
Robinson fanned nine in the win. She went the distance in the circle in all three contests.
Lowndes scored two in the first and two in the fourth in the opener.
The Lady Devils had five hits, two by Williams, who scored twice. Robinson and Veazey had RBIs to go along with Bruce’s solo shot.
Around the region, Colquitt County and Camden County swept Richmond Hill and Valdosta, respectively, over the week to be atop the standings with 3-0 records.
No 1-6A games are next week, with everyone getting back into action Sept. 10. Tift’s next series is Richmond Hill, with the doubleheader on the road. Valdosta has Colquitt and Lowndes plays Camden.