COLUMBUS, Ga. — Flowery Branch pitcher Nikki Harris was in a zone in the circle in the opening round of the Class 4A Tournament on Thursday at the Olympic Softball Complex.
Harris pitched the complete game, allowing just two hits, to lead Flowery Branch (17-8) past Northwest Whitfield, 4-0, and advance in the winner's bracket.
Harris also struck out 17 batters. It was a career performance, on the biggest stage, for Harris and made it hard for Northwest Whitfield (24-10) to get anything going offensively.
But the game was a defensive battle until the Falcons broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Abby Gray singled, and Casey Beaver doubled to open in the inning. A batter later, Mak Davis doubled to bring home Gray for the lead, 1-0. Savanna Rutledge followed with a double to left field to bring Beaver and Davis home for a 3-0 advantage. Ciera Poole doubled to Rutledge across the plate a batter later to finish the offensive output in the inning.
Harris only faced three batters in the seventh. She forced the Bruins to pop out twice and had one strikeout to seal the win.
The Falcons will play Heritage-Catoosa on Friday. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.
