The Dawson County High School varsity softball team’s season came to an end on Saturday with two losses in a double header with Lumpkin County. 

The teams were playing for the No. 4 spot in the region tourney that begins today.

“Yeah it was a crazy doubleheader,” said Coach Jimmy Pruett “It was two evenly matched teams, playing two good games. All four of our games were close. We won the first two and they won the next two.”

In the first of the two games on Sept. 30 at home, Dawson got behind early and could not get back in it despite Maggie Schandera going 2-for-4 at the plate and a late run on a passed ball.

“The first game we just didn’t hit,” Pruett said. “Lumpkin County made some nice adjustments and scored early.

“The second game we came out on fire, and took an early lead, but we couldn’t hold on. Our girls played really well, but give Lumpkin credit.”

The second half of the double header saw the Lady Tigers come out strong with two runs in the first on a Skylar Caine single who scored after tagging up on a Micaiah Jenkins pop out to right field.

Caine went 3-for-4 in the game.

Bella Henson also added an RBI single in the first.

The Lady Tigers would add to their lead in the fourth on a Carol Drake RBI single. Drake was 2-for-4 in the outing.

Three more runs in the top of the fifth put Dawson up 6-0 over the Indians, but Lumpkin would begin to climb back in at the bottom of the inning scoring two.

Dawson’s final run came in the top of the sixth when Brandi Williams scored after an error by the Lady Indians.

Lumpkin County added two more in the bottom of the sixth and then in the seventh won on a walkoff RBI double.

The Lady Tigers finished up regular season play last week with a loss to Greater Atlanta Christian, 3-2, at home on Sept. 26.

The team also posted a walkoff victory with the same score on Sept. 28 over Lumpkin County at home—the first of the three-game series.

During the GAC outing, the Lady Spartans scored first in the first inning and would add to the lead with two more runs in the third.

Dawson County mounted a comeback in the fifth with a Kendall Martin walk followed by a Drake single.Schandera singled to score both Martin and Drake to come within striking distance.

The Dawson defense retired GAC in three up and down fashion in the sixth and seventh but could not bring in Drake who singled to center in the final inning.

On Sept. 28, the Lady Tigers hosted rival Lumpkin in the first game of the series and came out on the upside winning 3-2. 

Dawson scored in the first after retiring the Lady Indians in order—beginning with a strikeout of the leadoff batter by Schandera. Schandera had four strikeouts on the night and not a single walk.

The run came on a pop fly to center by Jenkins that scored Drake who reached on a single. 

Lumpkin took the lead in the second after a runner reached on an error and a double advanced the runner. A single by Raven Chester brought in one and another reached home on the throw to make it 2-1.

Dawson would even things up in the bottom of the third on a Schandera single to left field that scored Drake who reached on a bunt that barely inched beyond home plate.

A Caine grounder and error by the Indians’ infield advanced Drake to put her in scoring position.

The score would remain knotted until the bottom of the seventh when Drake would make it to second base after a dropped pop fly in center and Schandera reached on a walk. 

A Jenkins hit to center was a fly out that scored Drake after the tag up for the walkoff win.

Dawson and Lumpkin were tied for fourth place in region, but the two losses on Sept. 30 meant the Indians advanced to today’s start of the 7-AAA tournament.

“The girls really turned our season around,” Pruett said. “We had a shot at finishing the regular season in second place, falling just one game short. We played as a team, and as a result started winning most of our games. All three seniors were major contributors to our team all season.”

The Lady Tigers end the season at 10-12 and 6-6 in region play.