Starr's Mill Sweeps Arabia Mountain 2-0, Headed to Class 5A Elite 8

On Wednesday, round two of the Georgia High School Softball State playoffs featured a Class 5A match up as the Arabia Mountain Lady Rams hosted the Starr's Mill Lady Panthers. The Lady Rams jumped out early after keeping Starr's Mill from scoring at the top of the first inning and scoring four runs of their own in the bottom of the inning thanks to a couple of RBI singles by #5 Sr. Kayla Phillips and #11 Fr. Auburi Gray as the Lady Rams ended the inning up 4-0. Starr's Mill got a little spark in the top of the second when #25 Jr. Jordan Childress stepped up to the plate with a runner on third and connected for an RBI single putting the Lady Panthers on the board before heading into the bottom of the second, in which Arabia Mountain did not add to their lead. At the top of the third, Starr's Mill continued to get production from the plate as #7 So. Wakana Sato got things going with a lead off single.

The Lady Panther's bats continued to heat up in the third as #24 So. Kate Ashmore brought in two runs with a single and #1 So. Laura Sellers added another RBI in the inning as the Lady Panthers tied the game at four a piece heading into the bottom of the third. Starr's Mill did not allow Arabia Mountain to score in the bottom of the third and in the top of the fourth took the lead after Sato took advantage of the Lady Panthers having a runner on third, bringing in a run off of a single. In the bottom of the fourth the Lady Rams wasted no time tying the game after #3 Jr. Dymond Brown lay down a perfect bunt that helped to bring in a run tying the game at five a piece. Arabia Mountain regained the lead while in the bottom of the fourth, when the Lady Rams had bases loaded and Sato walked #8 So. Aleeya Thorton forcing another run to come in for the Lady Rams as they went up 6-5 before the Lady Panthers got out of the inning.

After tying the game at 6 in the top of the fifth, the Lady Panthers added three more runs in the inning including an RBI single by Sellers, a RBI double by Childress, and a run walked in with bases loaded as the Lady Panthers went up 9-6. In the top of the sixth, Starr's Mill added 2 more runs when Childress came to the plate and connected for a 2-run RBI putting the Lady Panthers up 11-6. Arabia Mountain was able to muster up one more run for themselves in the bottom of the seventh but it wasn't enough as Starr's Mill went on to take game one by a score of 11-7.

Game two of the series saw the Lady Panthers get the victory by a score of 10-7 as Starr's Mill swept Arabia Mountain in two games to head to the Elite 8. Starr's Mill will face the winner of the Loganville, Union Grove match up.