Rain or shine: Houston County Bears down Etowah to return to 6A State Championship

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — A little bit of rain couldn’t stop the Houston County Bears in their hunt for a championship.

Despite Mother Nature postponing the start to the semifinals, the Bears swept the Etowah Eagles on Saturday and advanced to the finals for the first time since they won it in 2021.

Game two finished with a 4-1 score and the Bears led the entire way, after a close 6-5 game two.

GAME 1:

The Bears trailed briefly but ultimately led at the end of the first inning 2-1.

Etowah started with a leadoff double that moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt. An error brought the runner in to score and Etowah led 1-0.

The Bears first batter walked and the next hit a double before Andrew Dunfod brought them both home with a 2-RBI double pushing the score to 2-1 Bears.

They struck again in the fourth inning with two runs and pushed their lead to 4-1 before Etowah followed with three runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth to take the lead 5-4 into the final inning.

Etowah came up empty in the top of the seventh and put the game in the hands of the Bears.

That didn’t turn out well for them.

The Bears put runners on second and third base and Vick Gann walked to load the bases up for Eli Stephens.

Stephens battled into a 1-2 count before he was HBP and walked in the deciding run of the game.

GAME 2:

The offense didn’t come quite as easily in the second game of the afternoon.

By the sixth inning the Bears led 3-1 with six hits and two errors. Etowah posted four hits and several errors going into the final frame.

The Bears put up one run before Drew Burress struck out Etowah’s final batter in the bottom of the seventh.

Houston County will travel on Thursday to Coolray Field to take on Pope for the 6A State Championship. The doubleheader is set to start at 5 p.m. If a Game 3 is necessary it will be played Friday at noon.

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