Northside ready for showdown vs HOCO

After struggling for the past week and a half, the Northside Eagles look to have bounced back in time before their end of season stretch.

After stumbling through a five-game losing streak, Northside picked themselves up with victories over Warner Robins and Jackson. It was good for the Eagles to get some victories as they come up on their final region games, the games that really count.

“I think a lot of them have realized they’re not bigger than the team,” said Head Coach Kylie McHugh about her team after snapping the losing streak. “So, they’re buying into the fact that it’s not always my job to get on base, sometimes it’s just my job to move runners. We’ve been doing a pretty good job of that; so overall, I’m satisfied.”

Out of Northside’s next five games before postseason, four of them are region games. One being against Valdosta, and the other three are against Houston County High. This is a special matchup for the Eagles and McHugh. The players are familiar with each other through travel ball teams, so most of them are friends, but for McHugh, she’s a graduate and former softball player of Houston County High.

Houston County was recently ranked No. 4 in 6A softball and will be Northside’s toughest test on the year. So, this game is far from just another region matchup. Then to top it off, there’s also a little incentive in it for both teams, and that’s bragging rights.

“I feel like we’re in the right spot. We hit our slump, and that’s fine. Now we’re rolling where we need to be,” said McHugh about heading into region play against Houston County. “I’m happy with it; I mean, I’m excited. It’s always a good game. These girls know those girls, so that plays into it. But I think we’re in a really good spot to handle what we need to handle.”

The first matchup is a doubleheader at Houston County High on Thursday, Oct. 1 at 4:00 p.m. with the second game set to start at 6:00 p.m.

Then they’ll see each other again the following week on Wednesday, Oct. 7 at Northside’s home field, and that game is set to play at 6:00 p.m.

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