Three northeast Georgia area teams moved through to the second round of the Georgia High School Association softball playoffs on Wednesday.
Buford in Class 6A, East Forsyth in Class 4A, and Union County in Class 2A all took impressive sweeps in the opening round.
The defending Class 7A champion Lady Wolves, who are ranked fifth nationally and No. 1 in Georgia in all classifications, routed Westlake 15-0 and 19-0 at the Buford Softball Complex. They next will play host to Walton in the second round beginning on Tuesday.
East Forsyth, who got within one win of Columbus in 2023, started strong once again taking 9-8 and 14-1 wins over Eagles Landing Christian at home. The Region 8-4A No. 2 seed Lady Broncos will have a huge challenge in the second round, traveling to Region 1-4A champion Wayne County, who was the Class 4A state runner-up in 2023.
Union County, who also got within one win of Columbus last year, opened on the road as the No. 22 seed in Class 2A under the new Power Rankings System (PRS) but took out No. 11 seed Shaw, 9-8 and 8-3, to advance to the Sweet 16. The Lady Panthers will be on the road again against No. 6 seed Burke County on Tuesday.
However, North Forsyth was taken out in the first round of the Class 6A tournament by Brookwood 5-3 and 14-2, and Towns County was eliminated in Class A Division 2 by Lanier County, 16-0 and 12-0.
Playoff action for northeast Georgia area teams will resume on Friday with Classes 5A, 3A, and Class A Division 1.
(See the entire first round schedule below:)
GHSA SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS, 1st round
(Best-of-three series at higher seed)
WEDNESDAY'S SCORES, Oct. 16
Class 6A
Brookwood 5-14, North Forsyth 3-2 (Brookwood wins series 2-0)
Buford 15-19, Westlake 0-0 (Buford wins series 2-0)
Class 4A
East Forsyth 9-14, ELCA 8-1 (East Forsyth wins series 2-0)
Class 2A
Union County 9-8, Shaw 8-3 (Union County wins series 2-0)
Class A D2
Lanier County 16-12, Towns County 0-0 (Lanier County wins series 2-0)
FRIDAY'S SCHEDULE, Oct. 18
Class 5A
Thomas County Central (R2, S3) at Jackson County (R8, S2) DH, 1 p.m.
Class 3A
Dawson County (22) at Pickens (11) DH, 12:30 p.m.
Douglass-Atlanta (30) at Cherokee Bluff (3) DH, 5 p.m.
East Hall (26) at Luella (7) DH, 4 p.m.
Howard (28) at North Hall (5) DH, 1 p.m.
Jefferson (17) at Lumpkin County (16) DH, 3:30 p.m.
White County (20) at Cairo (13) DH, 11 .m.
Class A D1
Commerce (28) at Banks County (5) DH, 1 p.m.
SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE, Oct. 19
(Game 3, if necessary)
Class 5A
Thomas County Central (R2, S3) at Jackson County (R8, S2), 11 a.m.
Class 3A
Dawson County (22) at Pickens (11), 11 a.m.
Douglass-Atlanta (30) at Cherokee Bluff (3), 5 p.m.
East Hall (26) at Luella (7), 11 a.m.
Howard (28) at North Hall (5), 11 a.m.
Jefferson (17) at Lumpkin County (16), noon
White County (20) at Cairo (13), 1 p.m.
Class A D1
Commerce (28) at Banks County (5), 11 a.m.
