By Thomas Grant Jr.
Pictured above is Gray Collegiate Academy’s Elizabeth Robinson with the 3-run double. (Photos by Thomas Grant Jr.)
Gray Collegiate softball entered Monday’s rematch against Gilbert faced with three scenarios.
A second loss to the Lady Indians would cost the Lady War Eagles a share of the Region 4-4A title.
A win would earn them co-Region 4-4A championship status.
There was also the prospect of Gray Collegiate scoring enough runs to win the tiebreaker over Gilbert for the top seed out of the region.
Scenarios two and three played out in Gray Collegiate’s favor. It not only shut out Gilbert 10-0 in five innings, but won the tiebreaker based on the higher margin of victory in the two matchups.
The Lady Indians shut out Gray Collegiate 1-0 a week ago. Ainsley Minchew held the Lady War Eagles to four hits and struck out 12 to hand them their first region loss in four years.
This time around, the Lady War Eagles scored eight runs in the first inning. Four of the seven errors committed by the Lady Indians took place in the opening inning.
Elizabeth Robinson had the big hit with a 3-run double. Both Kaylen Boudreau and Kaley Anderson each had RBI to account for Gray Collegiate’s offense.
“Honestly, it’s Spring Break,” said Gray Collegiate head coach Doug Frye about his team’s play compared to the first meeting with Gilbert. “We came from Spring Break, no batting practice, and 7-8 days off. Not taking anything against them. They’re a good team. They’ve got a good pitcher.
“But we had 7-8 days off and we came back played again that Monday. We didn’t get those swings in. So we’ve been swinging the bats a little bit. So that’s a big difference. But they’re a really good team.”
Meanwhile, Peyton Hendrix held Gilbert to just one hit and struck out five. The Lady Indians managed just three baserunners the entire game.
Both teams will open the playoffs May 6 at home as a first and second seed, respectively.
A similar scenario played out in Region 4-4A baseball. Both Gilbert and Airport finished tied for first place at 13-1 having split the regular season meetings.
In this case, the tiebreaker worked in the Indians’ favor. Because Gilbert had a higher margin of victory in its 4-0 win on April 2 against Airport compared to the 3-1 loss, it was awarded the top seed out of the region.
Airport finished region play Monday with a 5-1 win over archrival Brookland-Cayce. Justin Sightler went 2-4 with two RBI and Brandon Gross had an RBI double and fielder’s choice.
Cash Epps started for the Eagles. He struck out four in four innings and was relieved by older brother Hunter who struck out five in three scoreless innings.
Brookland-Cayce closed out region play Tuesday at home against South Aiken. A win would give it third place over North Augusta in the region based on the margin of victory tiebreaker.
A loss would tie the Bearcats with Gray Collegiate for fourth place, but they would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.
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(Photos by Thomas Grant Jr.)
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