GAINESVILLE — North Hall swept Troup County in its first round Class AAAA girls state softball best-of-three series Wednesday at home.
The Lady Trojans (22-8) opened with a 6-2 victory and then completed the sweep with a 7-1 win in the second game.
In Game 1, Troup County struck first with a run in the first inning but North Hall answered with three runs in the bottom of the first to take control. The Lady Trojans added two more runs in the fourth and another in the sixth to pull away for a 6-1 lead.
Troup County wa one baserunner from getting the tying run to the plate in the seventh but could only plate one run against Kendyl Chase, who got the win going the distance allowing just one earned run on seven hits while striking out six to earn her 18th win of the season.
Kailee Dyer had three hits and scored two runs, Carson McCormack added two hits and one RBI, and Ashlyn Brewster had a hit and one RBI for North Hall. Kadie Sullens also had a hit and one RBI and Chase had a sacrifice fly and one RBI for the Lady Trojans.
In Game 2, the Lady Trojans got going early scoring a pair of runs in the first inning on a two-RBI single by McCormack. Troup County cut the lead to 2-1 in the third but North Hall responded with two more runs in the fourth on a two-run homer by Niki Carver, her eighth of the season, for a 4-1 lead. Dyer added a two-run single in the sixth and Brewster added a RBI groundout in the seventh to cap the scoring.
Chase gave up one run on four hits and fanned six with two walks to get her 19th win of the season.
Camilla Howell had a hit and Ashley Goines was 2-for-2 for North Hall at the plate in Game 2.
North Hall will face a tough test in the second round traveling to Region 4-AAAA champ Walnut Grove, who hammered Bainbridge 12-0 and 17-2 in the first round, next Wednesday.
It was a good day overall for Region 8-AAAA, which had three teams advance to the second round. North Oconee, the fourth seed from 8-AAAA, took down Region 5-AAAA champ Carrollton on Wednesday, 7-2 and 7-6 on the road.
