The first softball team in the state to secure its ticket to next weekend’s state championship series calls Boiling Spring Lakes home.

South Brunswick scored ten times over the final two innings to leave no doubt in a 14-3 win at South Central to sweep away the 3A eastern regional championship series.

After winning 11-0 on their home turf the night before, the Cougars knew that they would be in for a battle. The Falcons jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage in the first, and made it one-run game through five. Ultimately, South Brunswick would win the series by a 25-3 run differential.

Maddie Zobre set the tone for South Central in the home half of the first. She greeted Kina Davis with a lead-off double, and scored on a Haven Roebuck single. Three batters into the game, the Falcons had already doubled their amount of hits from Tuesday night.

Lacey Spivey crushed the home side’s fourth hit of the inning to plate Roebuck and give South Central what would end up being a short-lived 2-0 lead.

The South Brunswick response was not pretty, but it yielded four runs to secure the lead for good.

Addison Woodruff and Kendra Goodwin started the rally with consecutive base hits. Shea Brown walked to load the bases with one out, and Woodruff crossed on a Tabatha Maritn ground out.

Savana Burgess drew a free pass to reload the bases for Davis. A wild pitch scored Goodwin from third, and throw back towards home plate was errant allowing Brown to race home as well. South Central reliever Hailey Mickey uncorked a wild pitch to Davis for ball four which allowed Burgess to hustle home to give the Cougars a 4-2 advantage.

In the circle, Davis settled in to dominate the middle innings. From the second through the fourth, a Zobre single was the lone blemish on the Charlotte recruit’s line.

Blaire Adee gave the Falcons life in the bottom of the fifth when she dropped a one-out single into center. Zobre laid down a bunt that was overthrown to first base. Adee raced home on the play to cut the score to 4-3.

Eleven batters stepped to the plate in the top of the sixth. Once again, Woodruff and Goodwin were responsible to kick-starting the momentum. A single and double set the table for three of the next four hitters to record RBI singles. By the time Gracin Johnson, Martin, and Burgess had reached base, South Brunswick’s lead had inflated to 7-3.

Davis lofted a fly ball to left field that was dropped to score Burgess and extend the inning. Carly Clewis made the Falcons pay for the miscue with an RBI double to center to push the lead to 9-3.

Tyianna Cummings added an run-scoring single of her own, and up for the second time, Woodruff reached on an error to bring home Clewis.

In the seventh, Brown and Clewis rocked a pair of two-run home runs to electrify the road dugout and give South Brunswick a 14-3 lead.

Davis finished off South Central in the seventh to close out the series. She threw all dozen innings of the regional final while allowing three runs on eight hits and striking out 19.

It’s South Brunswick’s first state championship appearance since 2007. The Cougars will face either Piedmont or Kings Mountain in next weekend’s championship series. Game one will be played on Friday with game two and three (if necessary) on Saturday. The NCHSAA will announce the locations on Monday.

Piedmont currently leads the 3A west series 1-0.

Source: highschoolot.com