Northside rallies past Starr's Mill in to second round of state playoffs
Gabi Apiag's single in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded brought home Jordan Wells for the winning run as Northside rallied to defeat Starr's Mill 3-2 Thursday and win the best-of-three Class AAAAA state tournament series two games to one.
"For whatever reason, we have been a sixth or seventh inning team all year," Northside coach Brandon Jenkins said. "We did a good job of not giving up despite being down."
"We tell all our girls when runners are on base and we have a chance to score put the ball and play and that's what we did."
The Lady Panthers struck first to take a 1-0 lead in the first. Laura Sellers, who had three hits in the game opened with a single and eventually scored on a Northside error.
However, it could have been a lot worse as Northside cut a runner down at the plate and grabbed a line drive to leave the bases loaded.
"We have been a good defensive team all year and we survived the errors today and made some plays defensively that saved us as well," Jenkins said.
The Lady Panthers took a 2-0 lead in the third with the help of the Lady Patriots' third error, but a double play with the bases loaded kept the score at 2-0.
Northside narrowed the margin to 2-1 in the bottom of the third. Allison Sievers was hit by a pitch and Kennedi Bedell came in as a courtesy runner. She stole second and came home on Mary Horne's single.
The Lady Patriots tied it in the sixth when freshman Emily Holmes hit a triple to right and scored on Hannah George's hit.
Sellers reached for Starr's Mill in the top of the seventh, but the next batter, Shelby Daniel, lined to Ciara Jesus, who tagged Sellers for an inning-ending double play.
In the bottom of the inning, Wells singled, Sievers followed with a single and Madison Whipkey walked, setting the stage for Apiag's game winner.
Northside will play Flowery Branch in the second round of the playoffs, starting at 4 p.m. on Oct. 21. Flowery Branch swept Alexander Wednesday to advance.
Thursday at Northside
Starr's Mill 011 000 0--2 6 0
Northside 001 001 1--3 7 4
WP- Allison Sievers. LP- Alysen Febrey. Leading hitters-Starr's Mill Laura Sellers 3-4, Shelby Daniel 2-3; Northside Mary Horne 1-3, RBI; Emily Holmes 1-3, 3B, R; Hannah George 1-3, RBI; Jordan Wells 1-3, R; Gabi Apiag 1-3, RBI. Records-Starr's Mills 16-13, Northside 24-10. Next--Northside, home vs. Flowery Branch, DH, Oct. 21, 4 p.m.
This story was originally published October 15, 2015 at 8:20 PM with the headline "Northside rallies past Starr's Mill in to second round of state playoffs ."