Walk-off in final round ends Northside’s quest for back-to-back state softball titles
Defending state champion Northside won four straight games in the losers bracket to reach the final round Saturday in the Georgia Class AAAA tournament at the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus.
The Patriots faced Heritage-Catoosa, the same team they lost to in Thursday’s tournament opener. So they had to beat Heritage twice to win their second straight state title.
Northside’s hope ended in heartbreak Saturday as Heritage prevailed 5-4 with a walk-off RBI hit.
In the back-and-forth game, the Patriots led 1-0 after the second inning and 4-2 in the middle of the sixth. Northside junior Raelee Weaver’s two-run homer in the sixth inning broke the 2-2 tie and put the Patriots on the verge of forcing Heritage into one more game.
Heritage, however, tied it again with two runs in the bottom of the sixth, then won it with one run in the seventh.
The top batters for Northside were Weaver (2 HRs, 3 RBI) and senior Sammie Cotton (1 RBI).
Northside totaled four hits and one error. Heritage finished with eight hits and no errors.
After nipping Madison County 4-3 Saturday morning, the Patriots pounded Hampton 10-2 in the afternoon.
Trailing 1-0 against Madison County, the Patriots scored all their runs in the top of the fifth inning. Then they hung on after Madison County scored twice in the bottom of the fifth.
Northside’s leading batters were sophomore Karlee Fuller (3 hits, 1 RBI), senior Jada Chadwick (3 hits) and Weaver (2 hits, 1 RBI).
Earning the complete-game pitching victory was junior Ireland Cavanaugh. She struck out four.
The Patriots totaled 11 hits and two errors. Madison County finished with six hits and three errors.
In the game against Hampton, the Patriots dominated from the start. They led 4-1 after the first inning and 7-1 after the third.
Leading hitters for Northside were Cotton (3 RBI) and Chadwick (2 hits). Weaver earned the pitching victory, striking out four in five innings.
Northside totaled eight hits and three errors. Hampton finished with two hits and four errors.
Mark Rice, 706-576-6272, @MarkRiceLE.
This story was originally published October 27, 2018 at 1:31 PM.