The postseason begins today for Bryan County High School.
The Lady Redskins (22-7), the second seed in 3A-A, the east subregion, open the Region 3-A softball tourney with a best-of-three series at home against No. the west subregion's No. 3 seed, Truetlen County (10-16, 8-3) at 3:30 p.m. in Pembroke.
Led by senior Tiffany Howard, the reigning 3-A player of the year, top seeded Bryan County seems primed for yet another postseason run.
"I really feel confident in how we are playing right now as we enter the tournament," BCHS coach Al Butler said. "(But) we really need to fine tune our short game. As we enter the tournament, the games will be tighter and we can not sit back and rely on big hits as much as we do in our local games and region play."
Howard leads the Lady Redskins in nearly every category.
On the mound, she is 19-6 with 164 strikeouts in 120 innings. At the plate, Howard is hitting .693 with 45 stolen bases and has scored 52 runs.
But she's not the only weapon at Butler‘s disposal. Taylor Butler is hitting .477 with team-high 35 RBIs, Sierra Newman is averaging .365 with 32 runs scored and 23 RBIs and Rebecca Strickland is hitting .342 with 10 doubles and 20 RBIs for a team that hit a collective .364.
What's more, Alana Walker has provided another arm for the Lady Redskins this fall, going 3-1 in 12 games.
But now that the regular season is over, the Lady Redskins are in familiar territory, having advanced to the Class A Final Four in three of the last four seasons. It's not an easy road, though, according to Butler.
"Pitchers (in the postseason) will be tougher, stronger, faster than what we have been seeing here," he said. "That is why it is important that we travel outside our local area to northern parts of the state. The pitching is better there and it gives us good feedback on where we are with that type of competition."
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