The No. 2-ranked Bryan County High School softball team swept Pacelli on Wednesday to advance to the second round of the state Class A playoffs.

The Lady Redskins won the opener 2-0 behind a five-hit, 12-strikout performance from Tiffany Howard, who also went 3 for 3 at the plate and scored both runs for BCHS, which improved to 28-7. Sierra Newman had a hit and an RBI and Taylor Butler drove in a run for Bryan County.

Pacelli pitcher Lauren Rudesheim held Bryan County to four hits while picking up a pair of hits. .

Bryan County won the second game 4-2. Howard, who struck out 11, allowed only four hits, one a two-run homer in the third inning, and countered with a solo home run of her own in the fifth inning.

Butler, Jerri Hiines, McKenzie Covington, Alana Walker and Sierra Cornell also had hits for the Lady Redskins, who next week will take on the winner of today's series between Miller County and Irwan County.

More on this story in Saturday's Bryan County News.