The Long County softball team won another big region game Thursday, increasing its chance of making the playoffs.  
The Lady Tide dismantled Atkinson County, 14-3, in Pearson to improve their Region 2-AA Region record to 8-8 and their overall record to 11-12. The Lady Rebels fell to 1-15 overall and 1-14 in the region.
“I thought we played well enough to win. We took advantage of a few of their errors and killed a few of their early rallies,” Long County head coach Brian Thomas said.
With the win, the Lady Tide as of Saturday had the fifth spot in the region standings. The top six teams make the playoffs, with the top two seeds getting a bye and an automatic berth in the state tournament.  Long County can secure a spot in the playoffs if McIntosh County (7-8 in the region and 8-11 overall) beats Toombs County (6-9 and 9-13) on Monday, or if the Lady Tide wins one of their final two region games against Metter (3-11 and 6-12) on Tuesday or McIntosh County on Thursday.
Against Atkinson County, Lady Tide pitcher Harley Dawson picked up the win in five innings of work. She struck out 10 batters and gave up three runs, one hit and one walk.
“Harley threw well, and Ashley Desbiens did a good job of catching her,” Thomas said. “We struck out 10 of the 15 outs, so they were working well together.”
At the plate for Long County, Taylor Poole batted 1 for 3 with three runs and an RBI on a sacrifice bunt. Cat Wingate was 1 for 1 with two runs and a sacrifice-bunt RBI. Sam Garcia was 1 for 2, and Katie Estill and Alyssa Anderson each were 1 for 3.
 “We are excited about the last week of the regular season,” Thomas said. “We are trying to build momentum and keep focused each day at a time. We need to keep playing good defense and continue our timely hitting in order to close the season out.”
Long County faces Bradwell Institute in a non-region game at 6 p.m. Monday in Hinesville.