They say the third time’s the charm and it finally was for the Long County Lady Blue Tide and Tattnall County Warriors softball teams on Saturday in a game that had previously been postponed twice due to weather. The two teams took to the diamond for the third time in Ludowici on Saturday, Sept. 15 and it was the visiting team that walked away with the 7-5 victory. 

The Warriors took the win in this key Region 2-AAA game, but it looked as if the Tide would cruise to an easy victory after the first two innings. Sophomore pitcher Trista Murphy showed she does not just star on the mound, but at the plate as well as she crushed a solo home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the first inning. 

The Lady Tide added two more runs in the second inning as junior Ainsley Dawson reached first on a dropped third strike and scored Chante Thomas. Later in the half inning, Maddie Burkhalter scored from third on a error to give her team a 3-0 lead. 

Tattnall County finally got their bats going in the top of the third as they put one on base with a single and a second on a walk. The Warriors got back to the top of their lineup and a two RBI single cut the Tide’s lead down to 3-2 going into the fourth inning. 

The Warriors opened up at the plate in the fifth inning, but this time it was enough to take the lead from the Tide. They showed their might in a way that showed up Murphy’s home run in the first inning as they blasted a three-run shot to left field, giving them a 5-3 lead. 

The Tide had their backs against the wall with two outs in the bottom of the inning, but senior Bailey Harrison and Thomas both came through with RBI singles to tie the game. 

Tattnall County got swinging again in the sixth inning as a pair of RBI singles gave them a 7-5 lead, the eventual final. The Tide could not take advantage of what were nearly costly errors for the Warriors in the bottom of the seventh. 

Ajmanni Jefferson finished 3-4 at the plate with three singles and Murphy was 1-2 with a home run and was walked once. She also went seven innings on the mound and and struck out five, but allowed 10 hits in the offensive battle. 

With the loss, the Lady Tide fall to 7-11 and 2-5 in the region, falling into a tie for fourth place with three games left. They traveled to Brantley County on Tuesday nd Tattnall County on Thursday before ting Appling County on Tuesday, Sept. 25 for their final game of the regular season.