BEAR DOWN: Houston County softball sweeps Thomas County Central on the road to three-peat the region

There’s a reason they say to play through the whistle in sports.

There have been countless legendary comebacks in history where the eventual loser thought they were safe up 12 runs or 30 points and paid for it. Or teams that thought their playoff spot was secured, only for a team to play spoiler. Always play through the whistle.

Two weeks ago it looked like Veterans had already staked their claim on the Region 2-5A title, but because the Lady Bears played through and took care of business, they flipped the standings and are left on top.

A sweep and two losses from Veterans was what they needed; Veterans lost twice against Lee County (6-5 and 2-1) on Wednesday, and during Thursday’s doubleheader HoCo outscored the Lady Yellow Jackets 20-5 to win both games.

The journey is far from over — they still have a regular season game and the Super Regionals to even get to Columbus — but for now the Lady Bears can celebrate another successful season in the region.

Here are the final Region 2-5A standings (only the top four teams make the playoffs):

1. HoCo (18-9, 11-4 Region)
2. Veterans (18-7, 10-5 Region)
3. Thomas County Central (15-8, 8-5 Region)
4. Coffee (14-7, 7-5 Region)
5. Lee County (14-12, 6-8 Region)
6. Northside (4-26, 0-15 Region)