For the third year in a row, Richmond Hill got to the championship game of the season opening Region 3-AAAAA invitational tournament at Paulson Complex. For the third year in a row, they failed to come away with a championship win. They did, however, outscore their opponents 43-7 for the day.
The Richmond Hill scoring machine ran out of gas in the championship game against a very good Savannah Christian team 4-0. The Lady Raiders’ Taylor Turner limited the Wildcats to just four hits and went 3-0 for the tournament.
The Lady Cats opened the tournament with a game against Bradwell Institute - a three inning no-hitter for Ortiz was almost overshadowed by a 21-0 offensive explosion that was also fueled by a lot of base on balls and errors committed by the Lady Tigers. Groves was up next and met a similar fate as Roberts picked up a 16-2 win. Ortiz then beat Wayne County 6-1 to improve her record to 2-0.
All of the offense was too numerous to recount here but it was also punctuated by the inefficiency of those first three opponents - extended innings made possible by the walks and errors - and it didn’t do much to prepare the Wildcats for the likes of the Lady Raiders.
The Lady Cats will have an opportunity to avenge their final round loss this weekend at another tournament, this time in Statesboro. It is slated to begin with the Richmond Hill-Savannah Christian rematch, Friday at 4 p.m. A game against Statesboro will follow at 7 p.m. and on Saturday the Lady Wildcats take on Vidalia at 9 a.m.
With no rest for the weary, Richmond Hill hosted Long County in a non-region home match up on Monday and managed a comeback win in less than desirable weather conditions 6-4. Stefanie Ortiz got the start for the Cats but seemed to struggle in the wet conditions and was relieved by Hillary Roberts in the fourth inning down 4-2.
Roberts would dominate the rest of the way while her teammates mounted the comeback in the sixth. Kayla Herring and Lauren Davis had big hits in the inning and Roberts helped herself with a sacrifice fly RBI. Melanie Goolsby’s base hit completed the comeback 6-4. Roberts is now 2-1 on the young season.
With a strong showing at the Paulson tourney and a good win like the Long County comeback at home, look for the team to make a good showing in Statesboro.
Look for results in next week’s paper.