North Cobb sweeps Super Regional, moving on to Columbus for championship bracket
The road to Columbus continued on Tuesday for the North Cobb Warriors as they wrapped up the Georgia High School Association Class 7A Super Regional bracket they hosted, which included the Peachtree Ridge Lions, Collins Hill Eagles and Denmark Danes. The Warriors opened up the Super Regional with a 2-1 win over Collins Hill advancing to the second round where they would face Denmark and find themselves having to battle from behind to pick up the 3-1 win in the seventh inning.
And while the win pushed the Warriors on to the third round of the bracket, Denmark would have to take on Collins Hill on Tuesday in an elimination match and would best the Danes 8-7 in an extra inning, setting up their second tilt of the bracket with the Warriors. In the bottom of the first inning, North Cobb would take the early lead taking advantage of loaded bases for Rileigh Queen, Audrey War and Soleil Smith as Queen would draw a walk while Ward and Smith each connected for RBI singles and the Warriors would lead 3-0.
With Leah Byrd on the mound for North Cobb and a solid defensive performance, the Warriors would maintain the lead, however at the top of the fourth inning, the Danes appeared to cut into the lead when Caitlyn Jeffrey would drive a Byrd pitch over the fence in left-center field for a two-run home run with two outs.. The blast would have made it a 3-2 lead for the Warriors, but home plate umpire ruled that that the lead bae runner did not touch the plate, therefore neither run counted and Denmark was charged with their third out.
As the game continued into the fifth inning, the Warriors would then pick their spot to put the game away as Alyssa Russell would get things going with an RBI single to give them a 4-0 lead. Queen would follow Russell with an RBI single of her own as North Cobb would go up 5-0 and a Ward RBI single, companied with runners advancing due to an era on a throw to third base, in which the ball would end up in the dugout, push the Warriors’ lead to 7-0. And with a runner on third and no outs, Smith would come through for second RBI single of the night to give North Cobb the 8-0 win.
Following the win, North Cobb head coach, Mike Turchan spoke on his players and their performance the past two days and how they battled through the first meeting with Denmark and then were able to pull away from the Danes in Tuesday’s win and getting some revenge against the team that eliminated them last year from postseason play. “We were still focused on ourselves but you still think about last year a little bit and that should serve as just a little fuel when you come into the playoffs that, they sent us home last year, so we’re looking to do the same thing. Mainly to get us to Columbus, but it felt good to get back at them,” Turchan admitted.
