Tough loss ends successful season for Lady Indians

The 2016 postmortem

The 2016 season came to an end for the East Coweta Lady Indians in a 1-0 loss to Mill Creek.

The Lady Indians finished fourth in the state among 7A schools with a 30-6 record. Yes, your erstwhile softball journalist had to hold the Region 2-7A trophy.

An errant throw on a hot Saturday at the Elite Eight Tournament in Columbus brought an end to a promising 2016 season for the East Coweta Lady Indians.

Playing to a scoreless tie through seven innings, the eighth inning started under the International Tie Breaker rule prompting a base runner to start at second base.

A sacrifice bunt was laid down and the throw went into right field allowing the winning run came home for the Mill Creek Lady Hawks.

As the case has been over two seasons, Kelley Lynch turned in a solid pitching performance with a three-hit, 10 strikeout performance and nearly gave the Lady Indians a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when she hit what appeared to be a solo home run.

However, she and the Lady Indians were denied as the ball was caught over the fence by the Lady Hawks left fielder.

Mill Creek would defeat Lassiter 5-0 in the third place game and fall 6-2 to North Gwinnett in the 7A final.

While the results of the game that ended shortly before one o'clock resonated during the day on Saturday, a youthful Lady Indians squad had a season in which many in the state would like to trade for with a 30-6 ledger.

Featuring six freshman, three sophomores and four juniors to join lone senior Lindsay “Lulu” Warren, EC would face 17 teams (excluding state playoff opponents) that participated in the state playoffs with eight teams joining them in Columbus.

The record was 19-4 overall and 7-3 against the Elite Eight participants.

With the precision of a drill team, the Lady Indians marched in the
parade of teams at the Elite Eight in Columbus. 

After a 12-0 win over Alexander in the season opener, EC followed with an 11-2 win over the Spalding Tigers in the Georgia Dugout Club Tournament.

The Lady Indians overcame a 2-0 deficit with a run in the bottom of the second followed by a six-run third and a four run fourth as Caison Byars had a two-run home run, Krys Odum had a two-run double, Ashlynn Gunter had two hits and scored three runs in the game.

A 12-0 four inning win over Northside-Warner Robins followed as Carmen Prior’s two-run single as part of a five run first while Gunter had a three-run home run and Lynch had a three run double.

Next in the tournament came the Effingham County Lady Rebels who had a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh when Olivia Davis had a run scoring double and Rachel Vaughan drilled a three-run home run to give the Lady Indians a 6-4 win.

Mary Persons also proved formidable with a 4-3 lead in the fifth when EC scored twice and had a run in the sixth to come away with a 6-4 win but would conclude the GDC event with a 3-1 loss to Columbus.

EC took out their frustrations on McIntosh after the loss in an 8-1 win as freshman Aniston Wright had a pair of doubles while fellow youngster Hanna Miller had two hits, two RBIs and three runs scored.

After a 2-0 loss to Heard County, EC went on an 11-game winning streak that started in McDonough against longtime rival Union Grove.

Vaughan dominated the Lady Wolverines in an 8-0 win as she allowed two hits while Miller hit a three-run home run hard, Warren had a two-run single and Caroline Lively had a double and an RBI.

In one of the “blowout” games during the season, Prior had an inside-the-park home run while Madison Lecuona scored twice and AJ Estrada had a single and a walk in a 19-0 victory over Pebblebrook.

Another “blowout” victory during the streak occurred at Wheeler (20-2) where Ansley Duffey had her first varsity hit with an RBI single while Davis had four RBIs, three runs scored and her first varsity home run.

The 11-game streak ended with an 11-8 loss to Northside-Columbus in the Grayson High tournament at Parkview with the last loss before Columbus occurring in a game against Buford that featured a quality pitching duel between Lynch and Lady Wolves pitcher Logan Caymol.

Lynch was working on a no-hitter until the top of the seventh when she surrendered the first Buford single of the game that also became the only run of the contest after an infield error.

Both pitchers would allow one hit and record 10 strikeouts in the game.

The Lady Indians recovered from the losses to Northside and Buford with a 3-0 win over Alexander as Lynch allowed one hit over seven innings, recorded 14 strikeouts and drilled a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Junior "showoff" Rachel Vaughan lost one game all season
and had several big outings including a 5-1 win over Lowndes
where she allowed four hits and recorded nine strikeouts.

Two days later, the Northgate Lady Vikings traveled down Highway 154 for a rematch of a 1-0 EC victory but Vaughan had no problem on the pitching rubber for the Lady Indians as she tossed a three-hitter while contributing three RBIs at the plate in an 8-0 win.

The next day was Senior Night as the Lady Indians honored lone “graybeard” Warren by defeating the Chapel Hill Lady Panthers 10-0 as Vaughan allowed six hits over four and one-third innings.

Freshmen contributed in the win as Byars and Miller combined for three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs while Prior had two hits, scored a run and an RBI.

With the regular season completed, the Region 2-7A Tournament was next and after a 15-0 win over Westlake that included a grand slam by Wright, EC was able to defeat Newnan by scores of 7-1 and 8-0 to claim the trophy and prepare for state.

Providing the opposition in round one for the Lady Indians was the Woodstock Lady Wolves in Sharpsburg and the former went to work almost immediately as they advanced in a sweep by scores of 8-0 and 12-1.

In game one, Miller had a two-run home run while Vaughan had a pair of run scoring singles to support the two hit pitching of Lynch who recorded seven strikeouts.

In the nightcap, Warren had a two-run triple while Gunter and Lynch each had three hits in support of Vaughan who allowed two hits over seven innings.

East Coweta had their ticket to Columbus stamped in the next round as they swept the Collins Hill Lady Eagles by scores of 6-1 and 7-1.

Warren had a two-run double while Prior scored twice in the first game while the latter had a two-run double to help lead the way in the second game and it was on to Columbus.

The ITB would rear its ugly head in the opening game as the Lady Indians scored twice in the top of the eighth inning to defeat South Forsyth 2-0 as Davis and Lynch had RBIs.

In the next game, EC would have a 3-1 lead over Lassiter going to the bottom of the seventh inning but the Lady Trojans tied the game with a pair of runs despite the best effort of Warren to make a game ending catch in center field.

Under the ITB, Lassiter had a runner move to second who advanced to third on a passed ball before coming home on a sacrifice fly to left field.

The Lady Indians avoided elimination in the loser’s bracket game as Vaughn dominated the Lowndes Vikettes 5-1 allowing four hits and recording a season high nine strikeouts while Lively had an RBI single and Lynch hit a solo home run.

Saturday would come and as radio commentator Paul Harvey used to say at the conclusion of his show “you know the rest of the story”.

However, a newstory remains to be written in 2017.

The team and where some could be heading

This was the list of who was on the final varsity roster this season. Several of the girls have committed to the college of their choice and that is listed by their names.

5-Caison Byars
14-Ashleigh Campbell
3-Olivia Davis (committed to Georgia State)
16-Ansley Duffey (aka the Duffinator)
23-AJ Estrada
21-Ashlynn Gunter (committed this week to Young Harris)
25-Caroline Lively
10-Kelley Lynch (committed to Auburn)
8-"Hard Hittin'" Hanna Miller
17-Kristen Odum
11-Carmen Prior
1-Lindsay "Lulu" Warren (aka "the Senior" and "the graybeard") (committed to Georgia State, will be signing soon)
20-Aniston Wright (committed to Georgia State)
15-Rachel Vaughan (committed to South Carolina)

The 17 teams that played EC and also in the state playoffs and/or the Elite Eight 

The 17 teams on the East Coweta Lady Indians 2016 were as follows:

Alexander (12-0, 3-1) played in the Elite EIght

Effingham County (6-4) Eliminated in second round.

Mary Persons (6-4) Eliminated in first round.

Columbus (1-3) Eliminated in second round.

Westlake (10-0, 15-0) Eliminated in first round of 7A state playoffs

Heard County (0-2) Elite Eight

Union Grove (8-0, 8-0) Elite Eight

Whitewater (5-0) Elite Eight

Starr's Mill (10-2) Elite Eight

Newnan (3-1, 7-1, 10-1) Eliminated in the first round by Lassiter.

Wheeler (20-2) Eliminated in first round.

Northgate (1-0, 8-0) Eliminated in second round.

Shiloh (7-4) Eliminated in first round by eventual 7A champion North Gwinnett.

West Laurens (8-4) Eliminated in second round

Northside Columbus (8-11) Elite Eight

Buford (0-1) Won state title

Chapel Hill Home 10-0  Elite Eight

The record overall: 19-4, Against Elite Eight: 7-3

Notes: Woodstock and Collins Hill were playoff games and are not included. Pike County was on the original schedule but was cancelled due to rain. They also made the Elite EIght but are not included in record.