The second round was a rough one for northeast Georgia area teams as just three teams managed to advance to quarterfinal round.
Banks County in Class 2A and Commerce in Class A Public both got sweeps in the second round while Buford needed a Game 3 to move on in Class 6A.
All three will be back in action on Tuesday and all three, which have yet to play a road game in the playoffs, will be heading the on road in the quarterfinals. The winners of the quarterfinals series will move into the semifinal round, which is set to take place Friday and Saturday at the Olympic Softball Complex in Columbus. The semifinals and finals will be a double-elimination format.
Banks County, the defending Class 2A state champion, has looked strong in th first two rounds outscoring its opposition 36-3. But the Lady Leopards travel to take on Region 2-2A champion Vidalia, which has invoked the 8-run mercy rule in all four of its games in the first two rounds.
A freshmen-laden Buford squad survived a tough second round series against River Ridge. Now the Lady Wolves will head on the road to take on a South Effingham squad that has allowed just three total runs and scored 35 in just four games. It will be Buford's first true road series since 2018.
In Class A Public, Commerce, the Region 8-A champs, traveled to Lanier County on Monday to open up their quarterfinal series with the teams splitting the first two games. Lanier County took the opening game 5-0 while Commerce avoided the sweep with a 10-2 thrashing in the second game. Game 3 will be Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers are looking to advance to the Final 4 for a second consecutive season. They got within a late rally against Trion in 2019 of making the finals and finished third.
STATE PLAYOFFS QUARTERFINAL SCORES Oct. 26
(Best-of-3 format at higher seeded team)
Class A Public
Commerce 0-10, Lanier County 5-2 (Series tied 1-1)
STATE PLAYOFFS QUARTERFINALS SCHEDULE, Oct. 27-28
(Best-of-3 format at higher seeded team)
(Games 1 & 2 on Tuesday; Game 3, if necessary, on Wednesday)
Class 6A
Buford (Region 8, Seed 1) at South Effingham (R2, S1)
Class 2A
Banks County (R8, S1) at Vidalia (R2, S1)
Region 8-A Public
Commerce at Lanier County, (Game 3)
