The Long County High School softball team fell, 2-1, in eight innings to a strong Jeff Davis squad Thursday in Hazlehurst.
Though the Lady Tide lost the game, they showed that they can compete with one of the top teams in the state. Going in to the contest, the Lady Yellow Jackets were 9-3 overall and ranked No. 3 in the state in the MaxPreps.com AA rankings.
“We learned that we can play with one of the best teams in the state, and aside from a few correctable mistakes, we can take a lot of positives out of tonight,” Lady Tide head coach Brian Thomas said.
Long County starting pitcher Harley Dawson went the distance, striking out nine batters and walking one. She allowed only three hits and one unearned run.
However, the Lady Tide bats struggled. Cat Wingate was the leading batter, going 1 for 3 at the plate.
Thomas said that with aggressive play, miscues can happen.
“We can live with the mistakes that we made because they were made by our players trying to make the best plays possible for the team, and that’s what we teach our girls to do,” he said. “Mistakes happen, but as long as we are playing hard, then we can live with the results.”
With the loss, the Lady Tide fell to 9-8 overall and 4-4 in Region 2-AA.
In the region standings, as of Thursday, Long County was in fourth behind Jeff Davis (7-0), Bacon County (8-1) and Vidalia (4-3).
The Lady Tide face Richmond Hill (10-9) at 5:15 p.m. in Ludowici. When the two teams played earlier this season, the Wildcats were too much for the Lady Tide, easily winning, 9-1.
“We are looking forward to hosting Richmond Hill. They present a challenge, just like the teams in our region. It should be a great game,” Thomas said.