The Long County Lady Blue Tide softball team won its second region title in team history in 2025 and was just a few runs away from advancing to Columbus for the quarterfinals of the state tournament for the first time ever.
In 2026, the team looks even more ready and is hungrier than ever to take that next step.
“Our goal is Columbus and I think the girls know that it’s not going to be an easy ride to get there - but I think they are excited to get to work,” head coach Harley Kennedy said.
The Tide, much like many teams across the state, will see a new region going into the season. They keep familiar opponents in Southeast Bulloch and Liberty County, but add two prominent foes in West Laurens and Harlem.
Their two new opponents, and the Yellow Jackets from Brooklet, enter the 2026 season ranked in the top 10. Southeast Bulloch and West Laurens are coming off their own runs to Columbus in 2025 and Harlem was one of the top four teams entering the playoffs last year.
Kennedy said that it’s been all about the non-region schedule and preparing for region games through those non-region games.
“(West Laurens) are going to be tough. They have some good quality pitching,” she said. “We have prepared our non-region games to see similar pitching. We are preparing for all of them with a very strong non-region schedule, which should also help our PSR. We’ve just got to win some games.”
As far as preparation goes, it’s been much of the same the last few years.
“We’ve been there three or four days a week, lifting, hitting, getting on the field. We’ve had a bunch of girls playing travel ball across the country in big competitions. I think they are just excited to all be together as a team and get started,” Kennedy said.
Looking at the players themselves, the Tide lost no experience coming from the 2025 season. Their only senior was a manager who hadn’t played since her freshman year.
This would, in theory, lead many to believe that the team has a chance to be pretty good and repeat as region champions. Kennedy believes the experience and talent on the “stacked” team gives them a chance to compete, but they will have to overcome some injuries in the early stages of the season.
“We have a couple of injuries that are kind of holding us back at the start of the season,” Kennedy said. “All of them are starting to get cleared within the next two to three weeks. Talent wise, we are really strong once everyone is healthy.”
Kennedy specifically pointed out sophomore pitcher Sophia Brewster. During her freshman season, she broke Kennedy’s own single season record for strikeouts with 235.
Kennedy believes that Brewster should take her performance last year and amplify it in 2026 as she’s gotten another year older and stronger.
In 2025, the Tide lost to Pickens in the second round of the state playoffs, dropping the games 5-3 and 9-8, putting them out of the state playoffs. Their goal is to advance past the second round and get to Columbus for the first time in team history.
“The biggest thing is we’ve got to get past the hump in our heads,” Kennedy said. “I think a lot of it is we think the goal is just so big and so far to reach, but in reality we’ve been so close. It’s right there at our fingertips. A lot of it goes from the way we prepared over the summer and our games we’ve scheduled during the season, competition wise, is going to help us be prepared for those playoff teams.”
The Tide opened the regular season on Tuesday, August 4 against Glynn Academy, but the game was called off and rescheduled due to weather. They played Roswell and Blessed Trinity August 8 in Atlanta.