McCurry

Park in Fayetteville was the setting for the Sandy Creek

Shootout Softball tournament this weekend. The four local

high school softball teams gathered to battle a dozen

other teams for softball supremacy.

The season

started a relatively short time ago, but the teams are

already beginning to make their mark. In fact the

finalists in the gold and silver brackets were the four

county high schools: McIntosh and Sandy Creek in the

silver bracket and Fayette County and Starr's Mill in the

gold bracket.

Both

Starr's Mill and Fayette County went 3-0 in their pool

games, leading them to the gold bracket games on Saturday

afternoon. After disposing of East Coweta 11-1 in the

first game, the Lady Panthers went 4-0. They outscored

their opponents 52-15 and had the offensive player of the

tournament, Alison Horne. Horne, a freshman, hit .438,

nailing seven hits and driving in eight RBI. She also hit

the only grand slam of the tournament.

Starr's

Mill had to beat Heritage High School to advance to the

final with the number one seeded Fayette County Lady

Tigers. Kelsi McBride stepped up her pitching, despite

giving Heritage an early lead. The big guns for the Lady

Panthers, Horne, Jamie Vining and Sarah Scott, soon

stepped it up, crushing the ball and producing a number

of runs.

Their match

with Fayette County was a classic as well. The two teams

slugged it out, going to extra innings where Starr's Mill

eventally won. "We're playing very consistently and

I think that is a sign of maturity," said Coach

Donna Bailey. "It was a complete team effort; the

players and the coaches, especially Coach Little and

Coach Ellison, were all on the same page." Starr's

Mill played a double header at Cedar Grove Thursday and

will travel to Creekside Tuesday.

McIntosh

started the tournament off by facing Heritage High

School. The game was tied 4-4 at the end of regulation

innings and went to international tiebreaker. Megan

Mulcahy hit a ground ball that scored Britte Hardy from

second. The Lady Chiefs then took on Dunwoody High School

and won 3-2. Pitcher Brooke King recorded her 500th

strikeout in the win.

There was

no offense for McIntosh when they faced Dacula High

School. The Lady Chiefs produced five hits, did not score

a run, and lost 7-0. The loss moved McIntosh into the

silver bracket. Their first game there was against

Wheeler High School. McIntosh won 3-0 off of RBI doubles

from Abby King and Brooke King.

The win put

the Lady Chiefs in the championship game of the silver

bracket against the Sandy Creek Lady Patriots. The

tournament started off very poorly for the Lady Patriots

as they lost to Fayette County 12-1. Coach Tonya Carlisle

was impressed with how her team bounced back, though.

Their next two opponents, Rockdale and Warner Robbins,

each were beaten handily, losing 7-3 and 9-1

respectively. The wins secured a place in the silver

bracket championship game for the Lady Patriots.

"We're

getting better every game," said Carlisle.

"It's important for us to make fewer mistakes on

defense, though, and to make the first outs of the

inning."

Sandy Creek

struck first, but McIntosh took a 3-1 lead at the end of

the second inning. The Lady Patriots then loaded the

bases and produced five runs to take a commanding 6-3

lead. McIntosh, with their backs against a wall, started

reaching base and then stealing them.

Mulcahy

scored first by stealing home on a passed ball. There

were a number of RBI from Brooke King, Renae Clark and

Kim Jenkins. Jenkins drove in the winning run. Sandy

Creek faced Banneker Thursday afternoon and will be off

until next Thursday when they host Westlake at 4:30 p.m.