Week-long grind of Packers softball ends with DH split

Published 8:50 pm Thursday, September 28, 2017

MOULTRIE – Abby Plymel pitched a complete-game win Thursday in what was the final regular season and Region 1-7A game for Colquitt County High of the 2017 season.

It was also the 10th game in a stretch of seven days the Packers went through to make up games lost due to one severe weather event after another.

And, the 7-3 victory against Tift County High came right after the visiting Blue Devils ended a six-game winning streak for the Packers. In just five innings, the Blue Devils defeated Colquitt 12-3 to start the doubleheader.

So the Packers of coach Chance Pitts ended the 2017 season 3-3 in Region 1-7A, 13-10 overall. Lowndes swept Camden County to finish 6-0 and the No. 1 seed for the region tournament that starts Wednesday in Kingsland. Tift County ended up 2-4 and Camden 1-5.

Plymel scattered five hits over seven innings of Thursday’s nightcap. She did not walk a batter and struck out five.

Colquitt County’s bats produced eight hits. So much of this doubleheader, however, wasn’t about the hits but about the defensive decisions that did not work out.

In the first inning of Game 2, Gracie Frazier singled and Kelsey Patel doubled, but Tift escaped the turn with two stranded on base and no scoring.

The Blue Devils used two of their hits to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. The second hit, a drive to deep right, included a wild relay throw to third base. All damage happened with no outs, then Plymel struck out two of the next three.

Colquitt didn’t use a hit to score in the top of the second, but had two baserunners. One was Paige Vaughan, whose sacrifice bunt was misplayed. Marlie Wingate grounded out driving in the run.

The Packers went ahead for good with a three-run third inning. Catcher Mary Logan Tostenson led off with a triple to the right-center gap. She was ruled safe at home when Patel chopped the ball to third base.

With two outs and two Packers on, Vaughan’s first-pitch single dropped in fair driving both runners in for 4-2 Colquitt.

After Tift pulled to within one run in the top of the fourth, the Pack responded with two in the bottom half. Dontaysha Wilson, in the No. 9 spot, ended the game strong starting with a leadoff single. Tostenson singled with one out, Wilson scored on a passed ball, and Tostenson touched home safely on the ball hit in play by Bailey Howard.

There were two outs in the home fifth when Wilson doubled and Frazier singled for Colquitt’s final run.

To help Plymel, Thomas dove for a catch in right field to end a perfect Tift County fifth. The Blue Devils put two in scoring position thanks to an error in the sixth, but the infield pulled off a double play with a relay out at home.

Shortstop Kylie Davis and Vaughan at third base each had three assists.

Game 1 was a bit of a nightmare for the Packers. The home team led 2-1 on Wingate’s single in the second inning. Tift regained the advantage scoring two in the third on two hits.

Through four innings, it was 4-3 Blue Devils, but the fifth saw Tift County score eight with a lot of rulings at home plate. Two of them led to Pitts’ ejection, meaning he was not around for the remainder of the twinbill.

Tift had the bases loaded when the first runner going home was ruled safe to the home side’s disagreement. The next two balls in play were fielder’s choices home, both also safe with one more dispute. Two more hits and one error later, the score read 12-3.