By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Lady Tide top Lady Tigers in 5 innings
L to R Anderson Garcia and Dawson
Long County was no match Vidalia on Thursday, losing, 5-1, on the road despite the best efforts of, from left, Alyssa Anderson, Samantha Garcia and Harley Dawson. - photo by Mikee Riddle

The Long County High School softball team split two recent games, with its win coming at the expense of Bradwell Institute.
The Lady Tide thumped Bradwell, 10-2, in five innings Monday in Ludowici, but lost, 5-1, at Vidalia last Thursday in a big Region 2-AA game.
Going into Tuesday’s action, Long County was 10-10 overall and 4-5 in Region 2-AA. Bradwell, meanwhile, fell to 3-18 overall and remained 0-6 in Region 3-AAAAA.
The Lady Tide were scheduled to host Bacon County on Tuesday, while the Lady Tigers were set to play at Statesboro. Results from those games will be published online and in the Courier.
At 4:30 p.m. today, Bradwell hosts St. Vincent’s Academy. On Thursday, the Lady Tide travel to Darien to take on McIntosh County at
5 p.m.

Long vs. Bradwell
The game was tight through the first two innings, with Long County leading 2-1. However, in the top of the third inning, the Lady Tide got hot.
Long County’s Harley Dawson, Caitlyn Wingate and Brittany Smiley loaded the bases with one out. Samantha Garcia then cracked a single, scoring Dawson and Wingate. Garcia stole to second, and a wild pitch by Lady Tiger pitcher Mackenzie Stewart resulted in Smiley scoring and Garcia taking third.
Alyssa Anderson drew a walk. With two out, and with Madalynn Flynn at the plate, the Bradwell catcher lost the ball and Garcia came home, sending Anderson to third. Flynn singled, plating Anderson. Then, Kaylyn McEwin doubled in a run.
Dawson came back up to bat again and singled in
McEwin. Wingate doubled in Dawson to wrap up the scoring in the big inning.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Lady Tigers loaded the bases with no outs. Madison Winn had a sacrifice fly to bring home a run, but the next two Bradwell hitters were retired to end the threat.
Hester picked up the win, and Stewart got the loss. 

The game also was Senior Night for Long County with Anderson, Flynn, Garcia, Hester, McEwin, Poole, Smiley and Hannah Golden all being recognized.
“We hit the ball really well and played good offense. It’s always really special to win on Senior Night,” Long County head coach Brian Thomas said.

Long vs. Vidalia
“I believe we didn’t play our best softball tonight,” Thomas said. “We were a little sloppy in all areas of our game, and if you do that against a team as good as Vidalia, they are going to make you pay.”
At the plate for Long County, Flynn was 1 for 3 with a run. Wingate was 1 for 3 with an RBI, and McEwin was 1 for 2.
Thomas said that even though the girls had a hard time on offense against Vidalia, he felt the team’s batting was better.
“I thought we swung the bats pretty well,” he said. “We had two lineouts and two at-bats that went 10-plus pitches, so there were some positives there.”
Lady Tide starting pitcher Harley Dawson allowed all five runs, four of which were earned.

Sign up for our e-newsletters