Raiders split first two games of State Tournament

Bri Carr

The Raiders opened the Elite Eight of the State softball tournament with a 3-1 win over Wayne County in Columbus, Georgia a few minutes ago. Randee Bettis was the complete game winner for the Raiders and received a little support from Dani Lukas who knocked home all three runs.

In game 2, NW Whitfield took a late 3-2 lead into the final inning, but the Raiders used a 2 out RBI single from Bri Carr to tie the game 3-3. NW Whitfield then struck quickly in extra innings with a 5 run 8th to take an 8-3 lead. Madison County rallied in the bottom of the 8th striking for 2 more runs to close the margin to 8-6. With 2 outs, the Raiders loaded the bases bringing Bri Carr to the plate. Carr walked forcing home the Raiders' 7th run. Game one's hero Dani Lukas then grounded out to end the game at 8-7. The Raiders fall into the losers bracket and will turn around and play again tomorrow, Friday, at 3:00 against the winner of the Columbus/Lumpkin County game.
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Raider softball vs Wayne Co. preview

Alexis Damron

Raiders versus Wayne County

Round 1 of Elite 8 State Tournament

Columbus, Georgia

Thursday, October 25, 4:15

The Madison County Raiders, 8-AAAA Region Champions (30-6) will face Wayne County (24-2) of Jessup, Georgia Region 3A-AAAA on Thursday at 4:15 in the Elite Eight of the State Tournament in Columbus, Georgia. Madison County is coming off a Sweet Sixteen series win over Heritage-Catoosa last week losing game one 6-0, but bouncing back to win games two 5-4 and three 9-8 with the help of three home runs in the series from Ivie Drake.

The Wayne County Yellow Jackets are coming off a sweep of the state’s 7^th ranked team Locust Grove, 10-2 and 12-3 to advance into the Elite Eight to face Madison County. The winner of this game will advance to round two and will play the winner of the Rutland (21-8-1) and the Northwest Whitfield (31-3). The Jackets, coached by Barbara Struckhoff, are led by pitcher Myranda Hand (18-2) who was the winning pitcher in both games versus Locust Grove.

The Raiders will look to their pitching duo of junior Randee Bettis and sophomore Alexis Damron complemented with the speed of Bri Carr and Haley Gordon on the offensive side. Add to the mix the power of catcher Ivie Drake the Region 8-AAAA Player of The Year.

The Raiders, coached by Doug Kesler, defeated Walnut Grove to win the Region Title and defeated LaGrange in round one of the state playoffs 2 games to 0. Madison County is 18-2 in their last 20 games.

Wayne County’s only losses of the season both came against South Effingham County. The Yellow Jackets are riding a 10 game winning streak and have pitched 11 total shutouts (5 in a row at one point) this season.

Other round one games will feature Rutland/North West Whitfield, West Laurens/Columbus, and South Effingham/Lumpkin County.

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