Northwest set for softball playoff appearance at Luella

Published 12:03 am Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Northwest Whitfield High School is headed for the Class 4A state softball playoffs.

The Lady Bruins navigated a Region 7-4A that is extremely tough at the top to finish in the third position. They’ll play at Locust Grove against Luella, the second-place team in Region 5-4A, tonight in the first two games of a three-game series. Game one begins at 5 p.m.

The Lady Bruins (20-9, 11-7 Region 7-4A) shared a region with Central-Carroll and Heritage-Catoosa, which combined for just five total losses all season. Northwest dropped all six games it played against the two powers, but only lost one other region contest. The Lady Bruins dropped one of the three games they played against Cedartown, the fourth seed for the playoffs. Northwest was 20-3 against every team other than the two region titans.

Cenrtal defeated Heritage in two of the three games the top two teams played, earning the top seed. Heritage is the second seed.

Luella finished the regular season 12-4 and as the second seed to Region 5-4A champ Hampton. Luella also finished as the second seed in the region last season and hosted the first round of the playoffs, but were downed in the first round by Jefferson.

A potent offense, combined with the stellar pitching pair of Kylie Hayes and Destin Jewell have led the Lady Bruins back to the postseason in 2021. Todd Middleton’s team was the fourth seed in the region in 2020 and fell in a close first round series to Marist.

Northwest is the only team from Whitfield and Murray County high schools to reach the softball playoffs in 2021.

Dalton finished fifth in Region 5-6A and narrowly missed a spot in the playoffs after falling in the region tournament.

Coahulla Creek overcame an exodus of senior talent from their 2020 playoff team to finish fifth in Region 6-3A and bow out of the region tournament against third-seeded Rockmart. Murray County finished sixth in the region and fell to Ringgold in the tournament, while North Murray finished an improved season at 6-16-1 without qualifying for the region tournament after going winless in 2020.