High school softball: Murray, North Murray claim playoff berths, will face off for seeding
Oct. 11—The softball teams from Murray County and North Murray high schools both clinched a spot in the state playoffs by winning in the Region 7-2A tournament on Monday.
After each school got a quarterfinal win Monday — Murray downed Model 8-0 and North Murray got past Fannin County 13-10 — the two both fell in the semifinals of the tournament later on Monday. North Murray dropped to top-seeded Rockmart, while Murray fell to two-seed Haralson County 9-1.
The two schools play at North Murray on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., with the winner receiving the region's third seed in the Class 2A playoffs and the loser grabbing the fourth spot. Rockmart and Haralson meet for the region championship on Wednesday.
After coming into the Region 7-2A tournament with just one region win on the year, sixth-seeded Murray earned two wins in the tournament to vault into a playoff spot for the first time since the 2014 season.
After downing Gordon Central in a play-in game last week, Murray County punched its ticket to the playoffs, and the tournament's semifinals, with the 8-0 win over Model on Monday. The game was played at Haralson County High School, where Murray also went up against Haralson shortly after the quarterfinal win over Model concluded.
Murray dropped to Model by a margin of one run in both of the contests between the two during the regular season, but the Lady Indians (4-16) shut out Model (10-13) with a spot in the playoffs on the line.
Pitcher Kylie Usrey blanked the Blue Devils by allowing three hits in six scoreless innings. At the plate, Usrey stood out for Murray too, hammering a home run while finishing 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Kholee Fouts was 2-for-4 with a double and Brylee Boyd was 3-for-4 with a triple as Murray racked up 17 hits.
Usrey pitched again when the Lady Indians took the field against Haralson County (15-6) after a short break, but the rested Rebels made quick work of Murray in the semis.
Haralson quickly popped four runs off Usrey in the first inning, and the hosts grabbed a 7-0 lead after three innings thanks to a pair of homers. Murray was held to three hits this time, with Boyd, Callan Ledford and Charlsey Richards grabbing hits. Richards, who doubled, scored the only run for the Lady Indians when an error allowed her to run home in the top of the fifth.
Haralson added two more in the fifth before the game was called, sending Murray into the third place game against North Murray.
North Murray (7-17-1), which is making its first playoff appearance since 2013, reached the semifinals by piling up 11 runs in the fifth inning of the 13-10 win over Fannin County (6-9) in the game played at Rockmart on Monday.
The Lady Mountaineers fell into a 5-1 hole before batting around for the explosive fifth inning. After North Murray scored one more in the seventh, four Fannin runs in the bottom of the inning threatened North, but the lead held.
Sunny Warren tripled, had five RBIs and was one of four Lady Mountaineers to record two hits — Karsen Baldridge, McKinlie Callaway and Angel Tant joined her. Janna Baggett had two RBIs.
Pitchers Charley Patton and Kylie Corbin combined to hold Fannin off the board just enough. Patton had six strikeouts in her three innings pitched, while Corbin pitched four innings.
After the win, North Murray then took the field against host and top-seed Rockmart for the 15-0 loss. Rockmart which went 19-3 and a perfect 12-0 in the region during the regular season, pummeled North Murray for 12 first-inning runs in a game that was called after three innings and with North Murray failing to register a hit.
The two Murray County schools play Wednesday at North Murray High for the third seed. North Murray is 2-0 against Murray this season.
