The Commerce 8-under softball all-stars recently fought their way to a third-place finish in the state tournament in Chickamauga, earning a bid to the Dizzy Dean World Series in Southaven, Miss.
The state tournament, held June 29 through July 2, hosted approximately 15 teams from all over Georgia.
Receiving a bye in the first round, the Lady Tigers did not take the field until late Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers found themselves pitted against the Rossville Storm in their first game. The Tigers started out slowly, only scoring one run in the first inning while holding Rossville scoreless for the first two.
In the bottom of the second, the Tigers came out swinging. Grace Hobbs opened with a triple, followed by doubles from Paige Vickery, Landry Kate Martin and Kendall Peters to end the inning with five runs.
Rossville came back in the third inning scoring the only five runs they would score.
The Tigers saw consistent play in the outfield by Rachel Morgan, Bryanna Sanders, Grace Hobbs and Carson Hobbs, coupled with a double play by Faith Gearing, choking out any chance Rossville had at bat.
In the bottom of the third, Landry Kate Martin crushed a pitch into deep centerfield for a three-run homer. Bryanna Sanders kept the momentum going with a homerun of her own in the fourth.
A single by first baseman Carson Hobbs followed by doubles from Faith Gearing, Grace Hobbs and Callie Hill helped the Tigers lock in the 15-5 win.
Continuing in the winners bracket, the Tigers came back on Sunday to play the Chattanooga Valley Stars. The Tigers held the Stars scoreless the first two innings with three of the outs credited to putouts by Rachel Morgan.
Commerce scored in each of the first four innings, thanks to an offensive surge that included three doubles from Rachel Morgan, two triples from Bryanna Sanders, and two doubles by Faith Gearing and Paige Vickery.
In the bottom of the fifth with a score of 14-10, Carson Hobbs drove in the final run, to seal the win at 15-10, which pit them against the Bartow Blue a couple hours later.
The Tigers put up five runs in the first inning while holding Bartow to four. Bartow bounced back in the second inning, scoring five to make the score 9-5. The Tigers would remain scoreless for two more innings while Bartow gradually pulled away. Commerce eventually fell 16-10 to Bartow.
Monday night found the Tigers in position to fight their way out of the losers bracket in a rematch against the Chattanooga Valley Stars. Commerce held them scoreless for the first two innings while putting up five runs on the board.
At the top of the fourth the Tigers held a 7-4 lead, however, a scoreless fifth inning and errors in the field resulted in the Stars mounting a comeback with a victory of 14-8 over the Tigers, who finished third in the tournament and won the sportsmanship trophy for their attitudes on and off the field.
The Tigers will be the only 8-under team to represent Georgia in the National All-Stars World Series, which will host over 50 teams from around the country.
