The girls softball playoffs got under way over the weekend with region tournaments and several area teams have already punched their ticket to the playoffs.<br />
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Now, they will try and win their respective region titles. The semifinals and finals begin for most regions Wednesday and will finish by Saturday. The state playoffs begin next week.<br />
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In Region 8-AAAA, Buford and Madison County will play for the region title at Buford on Thursday. Buford advanced with a 19-1 and 7-0 sweep of White County on Saturday while Madison County held off North Oconee in three games (1-0, 5-6, 6-3).<br />
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White County will travel to North Oconee on Thursday in the third-place game.<br />
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In Region 8-AAAAA, Flowery Branch has been the surprise team. The Lady Falcons, seeded seventh when the tournament started, knocked off No. 6 Gainesville in the play-in game and then took down third-seed Heritage, Conyers in a two-game sweep (3-1 and 5-4) to advance to the state tournament.<br />
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In the semifinals, Flowery Branch split with No. 2 seed Apalachee in the first two games. Apalachee won the first game 12-8 and the Lady Falcons took Game 2, 6-5. Apalachee took the final game Tuesday, 11-1, to advance to the finals.<br />
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In the other semifinal series, No. 4 seed Winder-Barrow, after sweeping past Lanier, split with top-seed Loganville, winning Game 1, 3-1, and losing Game 2, 4-3. However, the Lady Bulldoggs could not finish the comeback as the Lady Red Devils took Game 3, 8-6, on Tuesday to advance to the title game.<br />
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The winners will play for the region title and the losers will play for the third seed.<br />
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In Region 7-AAA, Banks County and Dawson County advanced by finishing in the top two during the regular season. On Saturday, Lumpkin County and Franklin County joined Banks and Dawson.<br />
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The Lady Indians advanced with a 6-5 and 9-1 sweep of East Hall while Franklin County won a tough three-game series over Fannin County (1-0, 5-6, 6-2) to advance.<br />
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The 7-AAA tournament will resume Wednesday in a single-elimination format at Banks County with the host Lady Leopards taking on Lumpkin County at 11 a.m. and Dawson County playing Franklin County at 1 p.m.<br />
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The losers will play at 3 p.m. for third place while the winners will play at 5 p.m. in the championship game.<br />
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In Region 8-AA, Social Circle is the No. 1 seed and plays host to the tournament, which resumes Wednesday. The four teams advancing to the state tournament were determined last week.<br />
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The Lady Redskins and Union County, the No. 2 seed, advanced by finishing in the top two during the regular season. Social Circle will take on fourth-seeded Oglethorpe County, which beat Washington-Wilkes in a three-game series, and Union will play third-seed Rabun County, which knocked off Greene County in a three-game series.<br />
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The losers will play for third-place at the home of the higher seed and the winners will play each other at the home of the higher seed for the region title. Both games are scheduled for Saturday.<br />
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In Region 8-AAA, Morgan County and Jackson County were the top two seeds after the regular season. East Jackson, the No. 6 seed, swept a best-of-three series over Elbert County 7-5 and 2-0 to advance to state. Oconee County, the third seed, rallied for a three-game series win over Hart County (3-7, 4-3, 3-2) to advance.<br />
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The tournament resumed Tuesday in a traditional double-elimination format at Morgan County. Morgan County played East Jackson and Jackson County took on Oconee County. The tournament resumes Thursday at 2 p.m. with the championship game scheduled for 4 p.m.
