Colquitt County's Jacey Wetherington had three hits in the Region 1-7A doubleheader at Lowndes on Thursday.

MOULTRIE – Lowndes has taken the early lead in the Region 1-7A softball race after sweeping Colquitt County in a home doubleheader on Thursday.

The Vikettes are now 4-0 in the region after beating the Lady Packers 8-1 and 9-8.

Colquitt County falls to 2-2 in the region and will try to climb back into the race this Thursday when Tift County visits Packer Park.

Tift’s girls are 0-4 in the region after being swept by Camden County on Thursday.

At Lowndes, the Lady Packers were held to just three hits in the first game by Vikette pitchers Jolee Camp and Madison Van Allen, but led 8-7 heading into the bottom of the seventh in the nightcap.

The Vikettes completed the sweep by scoring two runs in their final at bat, with Abby Rykard singling in the game-winner.

Colquitt played without leading hitter Katlynn Powers and her absence in the lineup showed in the first game when the Lady Packers were unable to bounce back after Lowndes scored five runs in the bottom of the third inning. The Vikettes added three more in the fifth.

The Lady Packers’ only run came on a solo homer by Emily Allegood in the fourth inning.

Madison Plymel and Jacey Wetherington had Colquitt’s only other two hits.

Colquitt scored two runs in the top of the first inning of the second game, but Lowndes matched them in the bottom half.

The Vikettes added three more in the second, but the Lady Packers battled back to put two runs on the board in the fourth and four more in the fifth to take an 8-5 lead.

The big hit for Colquitt County in the fifth was a three-run homer by Elle Perryman.

Lowndes pared Colquitt’s lead to a run by scoring two in the bottom of the fifth and then won it with two more in the bottom of the seventh.

Colquitt outhit the Vikettes 11-7 and got homers from both Perryman and Allegood in the second game.

But the Lady Packers committed five errors and issued nine bases on balls.

Morgan Holder led Colquitt in Game 2 with three hits, including a double.

Wetherington and Abby Plymel each had two hits. Allegood, Perryman, Julia Duncan and Carli Pearson had the others.

Now 5-6 overall, the Lady Packers will finally play their first home game of the season at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday when Thomas County Central visits.

Colquitt beat the Lady Jackets 7-2 back on Aug. 17 in Thomasville.

Tift County, coached by former Colquitt County baseball and softball assistant coach Taylor Barber, has been swept in doubleheaders by both Lowndes and Camden County and will be seeking its first region win in its trip to Moultrie.

On Thursday, Tift’s Paige Hill gave up no earned runs over 10 innings, but came out the hard-luck 1-0 loser in the first game against Camden County.

The Lady Wildcats won the second game 6-2.

Thursday’s Tift County-Colquitt County doubleheader is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.