The best softball team in Region 8-AAAA now has its title.
Madison County (25-2) downed Apalachee 3-0 Friday in Danielsville afternoon to win the program’s first region championship since 2001.
That ’01 team went on to play for the state title. This Raider team begins that quest Tuesday when it hosts Sandy Creek in double header in the first round of the state tournament.
Madison County was the most dominant team in Region 8-AAAA during the regular season – not losing to any school on either side of the league -- and showed it during the 8-AAAA tournament.
The Raiders won their first two games – beating Heritage 9-2 and Loganville 5-0 – to earn the finals matchup with Apalachee.
Since this was a double-elimination tournament, Madison County still had a loss to give. The Raiders fell to the Wildcats 4-3 in extra innings in the first game of the finals, ending an 18-game winning streak. But the team rebounded, jumping on Apalachee early in the second game with a two-run single in the first inning from Olivia Duncan, and never relinquished that lead.
Madison County added an insurance score in the third with a two-out RBI single from starting pitcher Erin Gibson.
It would be all the offense Gibson would need. The lefty threw another complete game shutout, her second in as many days, as Madison County locked up its first region title since moving to Class AAAA in 2002.
The Raiders’ reward for winning the region title is a no. 1 seed in the state tournament and hosting rights for a first-round playoff series in a restructured state tournament format.
The Georgia High School Association has scrapped the traditional state sectionals, which were played at a neutral location, in favor of best-of-three series on home campuses for the first two rounds.
If Madison County wins this series, it will also host a second-round series against the winner of Sequoyah and Southwest DeKalb.
The state Elite Eight moves to a neutral sight in Columbus, Oct. 22-24.
