High school roundup: Northwest softball earns split in first two of playoff series at Luella; Christian Heritage volleyball clinches state berth

Published 10:38 pm Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Softball

Northwest Whitfield 2, Luella 1

Luella 3, Northwest Whitfield 0

In the first round of the Class 4A playoffs Tuesday against Luella High School in Locust Grove, Northwest Whitfield earned a split in the first two games of the three-game series.

The Lady Bruins (21-10) won 2-1 in the first game, before Luella (13-5) rallied for a 3-0 win to force a decisive game three. The game is today at 5:30 p.m. at Luella.

Northwest, the third seed in Region 7-4A, downed Region 5-4A’s second seed Luella 2-1 in the first game after breaking a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning. Torrey Cummings belted a solo home run for the Lady Bruins, while Alison Cowan drove in the other Northwest run. Kylie Hayes pitched the complete game for the Lady Bruins, allowing five hits and striking out 13. Hayes also finished 2-for-4, and Mia Sewell hit a double.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Luella pitcher Jaylen Reliford held Northwest off the board. She struck out 13. Luella broke through with two runs in the third inning and added another in the seventh. Sewell had two of the Lady Bruins’ five hits.

The winner of tonight’s game travels to play Savannah’s Islands, which swept Dougherty Tuesday night in the first round. The second round starts Tuesday.

Volleyball

Christian Heritage clinches berth in state playoffs in region tourney

After making its first appearance in the state volleyball playoffs last season, Christian Heritage is headed back to the tournament.

With a 3-1 win over Darlington Tuesday night in the Region 7-A Private tournament, the Lady Lions punched their ticket to the playoffs. Christian Heritage advanced to play Mt. Paran, but fell 3-0. The Lady Lions play Thursday night against the winner of a match between North Cobb Christian and Walker to determine their playoff seeding.

Christian Heritage and Darlington exchanged wins in the first two sets — a 25-14 Christian Heritage win in set one followed by a 25-11 Darlington victory — before the Lady Lions secured the match win with 25-12 and 25-22 set wins.

In the two matches, Amelia White tallied 40 digs and four aces. Sarah Grace Edgeman had 24 assists and 16 digs, while Riley Strickland had 18 assists, 16 kills and 14 digs. Taylor Hare had 11 kills, four aces and two blocks, Ryleigh Payne tallied 10 digs and nine kills and Mia Hill contributed 14 digs and four aces.