By Donald Heath
Special for the Effingham Herald
SPRINGFIELD – The softball teams of South Effingham and Effingham County went undefeated in their respective subregions but took unconventional paths during the final week of the regular season to claim their top seedings in the Region 1-5A softball championships.
The Mustangs, the first-place finisher in the South, open region play at home with a best-of-three series against Lakeside (Evans), the fourth seed from the North.
The Rebels, No. 1 in the North, leadoff their best-of-three series in Springfield against Brunswick.
Both series begin with a doubleheader today (Wednesday, Oct. 2) with a third game, if necessary, on Thursday.
Elsewhere in region tournament play, Glynn Academy (No. 2 from the South) squares off against Evans (No. 3 from the North) and Greenbrier (No. 2 from the North) hosts Statesboro (No. 3 from the South).
Winners from the first series advance to the region semifinals on Saturday in Springfield where games will decide not only a region champion but the seedings for region teams competing in the state tournament.
SEHS (16-5, 11-0) and ECHS (15-2, 7-0) are expected to have little trouble with Lakeside (6-16, 1-7) and Brunswick (8-10, 4-8).
The Mustangs entered last week tied for first place in the subregion with Glynn Academy. South beat the Red Terrors twice and clinched its No. 1 seeding against Brunswick on Wednesday and didn’t need to play its third game with Glynn, particularly with bad weather slated for Thursday.
ECHS, a winner of 13 straight games, swept Evans during the week but still needed to makeup a doubleheader with highly regarded Greenbrier. The original doubleheader was postponed after a Wolfpack football player died in a car wreck.
The rescheduled doubleheader set for Saturday was postponed when Greenbrier couldn’t travel because of Hurricane Helene, ECHS coach Brad Thompson said in a text.
The Rebels won the first game of the series with Greenbrier 6-4, which ultimately gave ECHS its one-game edge over the Wolfpack.
Entering last week, according to Class 5A top 10 rankings by ScoreAtlanta, Greenbrier was ranked fifth and ECHS sixth.
CROSS COUNTRY
Honey Ridge race cancelled
The much-anticipated Honey Ridge 5K at the Farm cross country race was canceled on Saturday morning because of the effects of Hurricane Heléne.
In a text, South Effingham cross country coach Brandon Howard said the race had 23 teams and 431 runners registered, which doubled the numbers from last year.
The race is also highly anticipated for local runners from SEHS and Effingham County because they usually have to travel outside the county for competition. The Honey Ridge farm is located in Guyton.
And the flat course usually helps runners post lower times.
Howard didn’t rule out a possibility to have a smaller race at Honey Ridge later this fall, nestling it into the schedule on a Thursday or Friday.
FLAG FOOTBALL
SEHS, ECHS kick off seasons this week
South Effingham opened its flag football season on the road against Claxton on Thursday (Oct. 3). The Mustangs won’t be home until Oct. 24 to host Richmond Hill.
Effingham County’s flag football season begins Saturday at Portal. The Rebels kick off their home slate Oct. 22 with a doubleheader against Long County and Beach.
