BUFORD — It was old-school softball, which played just perfectly into Buford’s hands Wednesday against Thomas County Central in the second round of the Class AAAA state playoffs.
Buford pitchers Logan Caymol and Kennedy Kotula limited the Lady Yellow Jackets to just five hits and got stellar defense behind them in helping the Lady Wolves to a two-game sweep -- 3-0 and 1-0 -- and punching their ticket to Columbus and the Elite 8.
“It was a chore for us but I can’t say enough about Logan and Kennedy and how they threw the ball,” Buford coach Tony Wolfe said. “We would have liked a few more runs but we knew it was going to be a tough series.”
They needed everything Caymol and Kotula had to give. The Buford offense managed just 10 hits in the two games against TCC's Larran Carter, who pitched a pair of complete game losses.
Kotula, which closed out the series on the mound scattering three hits and fanning four in a complete-game effort, also provided the Lady Wolves (26-6) with the game-winning RBI, and only run, in the second game.
“I was just thinking that as a senior I wanted my last home game to be a good one,” Kotula said. “I felt like I had my good stuff (tonight) and was just trying to do whatever I could to get us back to Columbus.”
Wolfe said not to be forgotten was the Lady Wolves’ error-free series behind the two hurlers.
“We’re not scoring runs like we used to so we have to play good defense to give ourselves a chance,” he said. “I thought we played outstanding in the field. The girls made some excellent plays on some balls that could have been hits. It was a solid team effort.”
Four different players had one RBI each in the two games for the Lady Wolves.
Buford, which ran its post-season win streak to an unbelievable 35 straight games, also pushed its home post-season win streak to 19 with the victories.
Thomas County Central (28-8) had won 16 of its last 18 games coming into the series, including a sweep of Locust Grove in the first round. Wolfe said the Lady Yellow Jackets were among a handful of teams he felt had the ability to win the Class AAAA title.
“That was a tough matchup for both of us and it was a lot closer than a sweep looks like,” Wolfe said. “I still believe it is wide-open and we’ll have to play our best to have a chance at repeating.”
Buford is the defending Class AAAA champion and has won eight straight titles spanning three classifications.
Buford next will take on the Ridgeland-Wayne County winner Thursday, Oct. 29 in Columbus in opening round of the double-elimination championship format. Ridgeland and Wayne County split their doubleheader Wednesday and will play a deciding Game 3 on Thursday.
— In other Region 8-AAAA action, North Hall was knocked out of the playoffs after being swept by Region 4-AAAA champ Walnut Grove, 9-0 and 8-2 on the road. North Oconee split with Eastside, taking the first game 2-1 but dropping the second game 3-2 and will head to a deciding third game on Thursday.
Game 1: Buford 3, Thomas County Central 0
Buford’s Logan Caymol started strong retiring the Lady Yellow Jackets in order in the bottom of the first inning. The Lady Wolves offense struck first.
Baylee Sexton led off the first beating out an infield hit. She moved to second on a sacrifice by Biz Walters and then scored on a RBI single to center by Samantha Thomas. After a Kennedy Kotula strikeout, Thomas scored on a Drew Puckett single for a 2-0 lead.
Thomas County Central opened the top of the second with a double to left by Payton Burton. But Caymol retired the next three batters in order to get out of the inning and strand a runner in scoring position.
Buford was poised to add to its lead in the second when Bre Gutierrez walked, reached second on a wild pitch, and then moved to third on a sacrifice by Kelsey Bennett with one out. But TCC’s Larran Carter struck out both Lea Edwards and Sexton to strand Gutierrez at third.
In the top of the third the Lady Yellow Jackets were ready to cut into the lead. Carter was hit by a Caymol pitch and moved all the way around to third on a wild pitch and ground out with one out. But Sexton made a tremendous catch of a Victoria Parker pop up reaching into the Lady Wolves dugout. Caymol then got Anna Greek to ground out to end the inning and get out of the jam.
In the bottom of the third Walters got hit by a pitch to lead off but after a Thomas pop up, Walters was erased when Kotula lined to short, who threw to first to in a double up Walters and end the inning.
Central’s best chance early came in the fourth. Kenlie Harvey walked to lead off and then moved to second on a single by Burton with no one out. But Caymol got Kate Hobbs looking and induced a flyout to left by Maddie Parker. Christina Ansley then lined out to Gutierrez in left to get out of the jam.
The Lady Wolves added an insurance run in the sixth when Gutierrez drove in Puckett, who singled to lead off the inning, on a RBI groundout for a 3-0 lead.
Caymol shut down the Lady Yellow Jackets over the final three-plus innings retiring 12 of the final 13 batters, allowing just a bunt single to Jam Johnson in the fifth, for her xxth win of the season. She scattered three hits for the game while fanning five.
Game 2: Buford 1, Thomas County Central 0
The second game was a pitcher’s duel through the entire way. Central’s Carter retired nine of the first 10 Buford batters, with only Gabby Benson reaching on an error. Kotula retired the first seven Lady Yellow Jackets.
Central mounted a rally in the bottom of the third getting back-to-back one-out singles from Carter and Anna Greek. But Kennedy was able to get Victoria Parker on a fielder’s choice and Johnson to flyout to left to get out of inning.
Buford took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth on a RBI single from Kotula scoring Thomas, who singled and stole second with one out.
The Lady Yellow Jackets mounted another rally in the bottom of the fourth with Kenlie Harvey leading off with a walk and moving to second on Burton’s swinging bunt single. But Kotula again got out of the mess when Kate Hobbs sacrificed the runners to second and third and then Kotula she struck out Chris Ansley and got Maddie Parker to ground out to first to end the inning.
Kotula and Carter would dominate the rest of the way. Kotula retired nine straight from the fourth to the sixth inning while Carter retired 11 of the final 14 Buford batters after Kotula’s RBI hit.
Central got the winning run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning after Hobbs singled to lead off the inning. But Kotula struck out Christina Ansley, got Maddie Parker to fly to right, and closed out the series getting Carter to ground out to third.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2015/10/344263/class-aaaa-softball-buford-sweeps-tcc-to-advance-to-columbus