By MICHAEL MURRAY

The Schley County Lady Wildcats softball team has been quite busy over the past few weeks, amassing a 15-9 regular-season record and earning a pair of significant victories over the Miller County Lady Pirates in round one of the Georgia Class A playoffs to improve their overall record to 17-9.
One week later, on Oct. 19, the Lady Wildcats hit the field once more to take on the number-three-ranked Gordon Lee Lady Trojans for round two of the playoffs.
Despite an admirable effort from the Schley squad, the Lady Trojans earned the right to advance to the quarterfinals with a pair of defeats of the Lady ‘Cats. Schley dropped a 4-1 decision in game one of the afternoon before the Gordon Lee ladies got their bats going to deal the Lady Wildcats a 20-1 defeat in the afternoon’s closer.
As the Schley girls draw the curtain on their 2017 campaign, the team is left with a 17-11 overall mark. The Lady Trojans are currently 28-3 overall.
The Lady Wildcats completed the regular season with an 11-3 Region 4-A mark to earn the second-place spot in the region behind the 18-3 Marion County Lady Eagles.
The Lady ‘Cats wrapped up their regular season with a two-game sweep of Taylor County early in October before dropping a close 6-2 decision to Veterans High School on Oct. 4.
With their impressive record, the Lady Wildcats earned themselves a spot in the top 25 Class A competitors in the state of Georgia as well as the right to advance to the first round of the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) playoffs.
In round one of the playoffs, held on Oct. 13, the Schley girls squared off against Miller County, dishing out a 17-2 defeat to the Lady Pirates in the first game of the afternoon before returning to the diamond to advance in the tournament with a 13-0 shutout of their opponents.
The Lady ‘Cats got the ball rolling early in the day’s opener, scoring six runs in the first frame and repeating this performance in the second inning.
Down 12-0, the Lady Pirates avoided a shutout in the third inning of the game by adding a pair of runs, though the Lady Wildcats responded by crossing the plate five more times in the bottom of the stanza to clinch the 15-point, three-inning run rule victory.
The Lady Wildcats scattered nine hits in the game while holding their opponents to only six. The Miller County squad committed six errors in the game while the Schley committed none.
Perri DeVane and Carmen Phillips set the pace for the Schley batters, each connecting on two hits in the game.
Saylor Ann Cross and DeVane both brought in three RBIs for the Lady Wildcat cause while Maddie Tobin contributed two.
Laine Frazier and S. Cross split duties in the pitcher’s circle with Frazier striking out one batter along the way. S. Cross tossed the final inning of the tilt.
In the afternoon’s nightcap, the Lady Wildcats delivered another thrashing to the Lady Pirates much to the delight of the Schley fans in attendance.
The Schley squad, once again, came out with a vengeance, with five runners crossing the plate in the initial inning.
The scoreboard then fell silent for several innings as the teams duked it out, each looking for a chink in the other’s armor. Schley found their chance in the sixth inning, when the Lady Wildcats sparked a rally that netted the team eight more runs and put the game out of reach.
Havalyn Cross, Nyiah Kelley, and Tobin each collected two hits in the match to lead Schley’s batters. H. Cross added three RBIs to the victory while Kelley and Saige Whaley followed closely behind with two RBIs apiece.
The Lady ‘Cats totaled 10 hits in the match while their opponents scattered six and committed five errors.
Whaley handled hurling duties for five innings of the match.
Details of the Lady Wildcats’ contests against the Lady Trojans were not available at press time.