Sports

Region 1-AAA softball tourney opens today

• The championship is as up for grabs at this point as it was at the beginning of the season.

Danny Aller

ALBANY — The GHSA Region 1-AAA softball tournament gets underway today, and there’s no shortage of interesting matchups in the event that lasts through the end of the week.

Seeded first is Cairo, which has the superior squad in the region this season in the six-team conference. Cairo’s 18-4 overall record and 8-2 region mark is only blemished by losses to Crisp County and Westover, both by the scores of 3-1, and to non-conference foes AAAA power Heritage, as well as AAAAA Houston County.

And because of its solid play all season, Cairo will have a first-round bye today, and won’t play until Tuesday at 5 p.m. at home against the winner of No. 4 seed Worth County and No. 5 Monroe, which play today in Sylvester at 5 p.m.

Holding the other bye in the first round, goes to Westover, which sits with a 18-7-1 record overall, and 8-2 in region. The Lady Patriots won’t play their first game also until Tuesday at 5 p.m. (at Highland Park) until their opponent is determined by the outcome of between No. 3 Crisp County and No. 6 Dougherty today at Crisp, also at 5 p.m. Crisp was in the driver’s seat to snag the No. 2 seed before its regular-season finale last Thursday against Worth County, which pulled off the 4-0 upset thanks to the first perfect game in Lady Rams’ history by Keri Hathcock.

That win by Worth secured the No. 2 seed for Westover, and coach Steve Bowers isn’t complaining one bit.

“It’s always nice to be at home and not travel,” Bowers said Sunday. “I’d rather have a team try and beat us in our house than anywhere else.”

The Lady Trojans, last in the region and winners of just five games all season, travel to Crisp — arguably the most dangerous team in the tournament at 16-10 and 7-2 in region.

But just because Crisp looks to overmatch Dougherty on paper, don’t count the Lady Trojans out until you’ve seen them hit.

In the games Dougherty has won this season, it has outscored its opponents, 120-48, and have racked up 38, 31, 20 (twice) and 14 runs in single games this season.

Play resumes Thursday at the home field of the top seed remaining in the tournament. The losers, meanwhile, fall into the loser’s bracket and must battle Wednesday and early Saturday for a chance to meet the main-draw winner Saturday at noon, then must beat that team twice with the finale happening at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Again, the championship game and/or series will be held at the home field of the top seed left in the tournament.

For Bowers, the tournament will be all about avenging the team’s lone two losses on the season to Crisp and Cairo, which earned its wins against the Lady Patriots during a week when Westover had three of its star players tied up with homecoming festivities.

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