By Donald Heath

Special for the Effingham Herald

SPRINGFIELD – A car accident that killed a Greenbrier High School football player led to the postponement of Wolfpack athletics on Thursday, including the key Region 1-5A North softball doubleheader with Effingham County.

The games have been moved to Saturday in Springfield. The first game will be 11 a.m. with the second game slated for 1 p.m.

The Rebels (12-2, 4-0 subregion) are ranked sixth in Class 5A, according to ScoreAtlanta. Greenbrier (16-4, 3-1) is fifth.

The two teams began their three-game subregion series on Tuesday (Sept. 17) with a single game in Greenbrier.

Jordan Tarver and Shelby Zeigler both hit two home runs apiece and Ava Wingate and Ansleigh Giordano split the pitching to lead ECHS to a 6-4 victory. 

The Rebels have a three-game set with Evans this week and squeezed the makeup doubleheader to Saturday, most likely determining the subregion championship.

Greenbrier has a three-game series with Lakeside, Evans, this week before the doubleheader.

“Playing on a Saturday should give us a playoff atmosphere,” ECHS coach Brad Thompson said. “I feel like we’re playing well and everything is clicking.”

The Rebels are on a 10-game winning streak after splitting four games to start the season. Thompson said junior Gracie LaFleur was hitting about .500 to lead the team in batting average.

The winner of the North subregion will host the Region 1 tournament finals and consolation games on Oct. 5.

The first round of the region tournament – a crossover between the North and South subregions in a best-of-three series – begins with doubleheaders Oct. 1 at the higher seed’s home field.

A third game, if necessary, would be played Oct. 2. The four first-round winners advance to Oct. 5 and those games will determine a region champion along with state seedings.