Didn't get off to a great start this year? It doesn't matter.

As long as you made it to this point, anything could happen. That's

what the five local high school softball teams are thinking. Today they,

and all of their opponents in the state tournament, are 0-0. It's

a whole new ballgame and all that matters now is playing the best ball

possible.

Class AAAAA South Sectional - Hamilton Complex, Tifton

Starr's Mill (23-15) is the only team from Fayette County to make

the AAAAA state playoffs. The Lady Panthers, ranked ninth in Class AAAAA,

finished second in last week's region 4-AAAAA tournament to East

Coweta, but looked strong. They outscored their opponents 34-13 and went

2-2 in one run games in the tournament. Starr's Mill got great peformances

from their pitchers, including Jackie Jones, who went 2-1 in the final

three games.

Starr's Mill's bats have also been heating up as the season

wore along, getting heroes up and down the lineup. Players like Lindsey

Walker and Lyndsey Tedford have had some big hits in recent games as

have Rachel Watson, Caitlin Rosa and countless others. The Lady Panthers

have tried to finish strong, having won the North Cobb tournament and

placing third in the Brookwood tournament towards the end of the season.

Their opponent in the opening round of the state tournament is Redan,

the three seed from Region 2-AAAAA. The Lady Raiders have been able to

put up some big numbers this season, scoring 49 runs in their first three

games. They closed out the regular season going 4-1 with one of their

wins being a 1-0 forfeit against Tri-Cities. They lost their final regular

season game 19-0 to Newton, which went undefeated in the region.

The winner of Starr's Mill/Redan, which is set for 4 p.m. Friday,

will play the winner of Groves/Coffee.

Class AAAA South Sectional - Southern Pines, Dublin

Whitewater High School and McIntosh High School placed third and fourth

in region 4-AAAA, both qualifying for the AAAA state tournament. The

difference is that McIntosh now has to play Greenbrier, region champs

for the last nine years, while Whitewater opens with Jones County, still

a formidable opponent but a little less scary than Greenbrier.

McIntosh didn't finish the season particularly strong, going 1-2

in the region tournament and losing four in a row before that, but they

did have a stretch in the middle of the season going 8-2 with seven shutouts.

The team has had great success from freshman pitcher Morgan Kidd and

the defense that has backed her up along the way to 10 shutouts this

year.

The Lady Chiefs will have their work cut out for them on Friday at 6

p.m. Greenbrier, ranked number one in AAAA, is 25-4 with 14 shut outs

this year. The team benefits from starting pitcher Kristan Glover , who

has 38 strike outs in the last three games. The winner of McIntosh and

Greenbrier will take on the winner of Ware County/Henry County.

Whitewater (18-13) started the season slowly with an 0-6 start but won

seven of their last nine games, posting three shutouts and outscoring

their opponents in those games 31-19. The team is getting solid picthcing

from Danielle Dickson and Jill Keller and has had big games at the plate

all year from Tess Echols, Megan Holman and Lauren Moyer.

Their opponent Friday at 4 p.m. is Jones County, which split games with

Effingham County in the region tournament before falling 8-1 to Greenbrier.

The two teams hooked up earlier this season with Jones County winning

3-1. The Lady Greyhounds then went 0-9-1 after that game.

The winner of Whitewater/Jones County will face the winner of Lee County/Westside-Macon.

Class A North Sectional - McDonough Road, Hampton

Our Lady of Mercy and Landmark Christian place third and fourth respectively

in the Region 5-A tournament. Once again, the difference in first round

opponents is significant. Landmark will take on the top ranked Georgia

Military School (24-4-1) at 4 p.m., while Our Lady of Mercy will face

Washington-Wilkes, a team capable of putting up some good numbers but

not as fearsome as Georgia Military, at 6 p.m.

Our Lady of Mercy opened the season with an 0-6 start and then followed

it up with a four game winning streak against region opponents. They

closed out the season with a 4-2 record, going 3-2 in the region tourney

and scoring 52 runs in those five games.

Washington-Wilkes scored 35 runs in