HoCo and Lee County to play for Region 1-6A title in Leesburg next month

The entire season when it counted most the Houston County Lady Bears had been able to find a way to get that extra run or crucial out from the mound or stop on defense. That streak of good fortune took a break of sorts during their 3-2 loss at Lee County on Tuesday. 

“I thought it was a well played game by both teams,” said HoCo head coach Scott Lamb. “They just made one more play than we did this time.”

The Lady Bears (20-3 overall, 7-1 in Region 1-6A) needed to win this game to secure home field advantage for the Oct. 1 region championship game between the two teams. That advantage will belong to the Lady Trojans (18-4, 6-1) now. Prior to tonight the teams met in Warner Robins on September 5 in a 3-2 victory for Houston County. They will meet for a third time for the region title due to the tie being broken by run differential. The best-of-three series will have a designated hitter in game one (scheduled for 4 p.m.) with a third game (if necessary) to be played on Wednesday, Oct. 6.

Lee County is 8-0 at home this season. Houston County is 8-3 on the road with a remarkable 4-0 record on neutral sites this season.

Houston County held a 2-1 advantage heading into the seventh and final inning of play before Lee County managed to pick up a pair and the victory. Junior Olivia Brown pitched six innings (6.1), giving up a season-high three earned runs (the first having come during the fifth inning with HoCo ahead 2-0) on just three hits. The Lady Bears just managed to get two hits from Makayla Krepps and Avery Martin. Lee County senior ace Abby Hughes pitched all seven innings for the Lady Trojans, striking out eight and allowing just one earned run in the process. Both Hughes and Brown throw over 90 pitches during the game. There’s a good chance both will be needed to go the distance again when the two teams meet next week.

“We made some moves at the end of the game that was either going to allow us to win it or unfortunately lose it,” said Lamb. “This time it didn’t pan out for us.”