Lady Titans defeat Lincoln County to secure title
Lake Oconee Academy softball claimed the region title after defeating Lincoln County 13-3 last week.
It was a first-place battle between the Lady Titans and Lady Red Devils down the stretch.
Multiple games were canceled due to Hurricane Helene, which meant LOA had to play three days in a row, with the last contest against Lincoln County.
“It was a winner-take-all game against them,” Lake Oconee Academy head coach Keetah Singleton said. "I told them you’ve surpassed what you thought you’d do this season. Now, just continue to play your game, stay levelheaded, and stay composed, and they did just that.”
The key for LOA to emerge as region champions was its ability to stay levelheaded. The Lady Titans took advantage of errors from Lincoln County to get more runs across the plate.
Hitting throughout the lineup had been a problem for the Lady Titans for part of the year, but that wasn’t the case in these games. They struggled to find consistency but finally burst through last week.
“The biggest thing for me is they truly capitalized on the bases,” Singleton said. “The bats came to life during the last three games. Now I’ve got all nine batters contributing on offense.”
One of the players who played a big role at the plate for LOA was senior Mary Claire McCommons. Her experience helped spark the team when it needed her the most.
“She’s been on fire lately,” Singleton said. “She had three shots down the third base line for us.”
Freshman pitcher Kaitlyn Mamay also continued her excellence in these games.
“She rose to the occasion and did well,” Singleton said. “She kept her walks low, and she capitalized.”
Lake Oconee Academy starts its quest for a state title against Charlton County, which finished the year 11-12-1. But first, the Lady Titans must take care of business against the Lady Indians this week.
“Our motto going forward is to continue to play our game and not get razzle-dazzled by the fact it’s the state tournament,” Singleton said. “[Charlton County] is pretty similar to us. They’re a scrappy little team.”
The Lady Titans will be without McCommons for this series, so the rest of the team must step up to make it to the Elite Eight in Columbus for the first time and compete for the Class A Division II state title.
“We’ll see what happens, and if God is willing, we’ll move on,” Singleton said.