Washington County no match for Rutland in first round

A year ago, Rutland lost in the first round of the GHSA Class AAA softball playoffs, so heading into this year, one of the goals that head coach Amanda Maddox and her team set was to make it past the first round.

That goal was accomplished on Wednesday as the Hurricanes took care of business early twice against Washington County, winning the first game 12-0 behind Laney Wallace’s no-hitter, and then winning the second game by a score of 16-1.

Rutland will host a second-round series against the winner of the Fannin County-Ringgold series.

“We weren’t very happy last year when we won the region and then lost in the first round of state,” said Maddox, whose team improved to 14-14 on the year. “We tried to make sure that we played a very tough non-region schedule and we did, by playing teams like FPD, Tattnall Square and Stratford.

“As long as we stay focused and continue to practice hard, I think we can play with anyone.”

After the first-game win, Rutland took little time to put Washington County away in the second game. The Hurricanes scored 10 times in the first inning, on five hits, five walks, a hit batter and three Washington County errors.

Maggi Shipp, Rebecca Johnson, Haley Nettles, Breanca Davis and Abigail Johnson all had hits in the inning, while Davis and Megan Frank both scored twice.

Meanwhile, Abigail Johnson was having little trouble on the mound.

After Washington County’s Lauren Hall led the game off with a single, Johnson retired the side, and was touched for only a single run in the third and final inning.

Rutland went scoreless in the second inning, but added six runs in the third to put the game away. Shipp, Kaitlyn Neely, Davis, and Abigail Johnson all had hits in the inning to end the game.

“I still think it helps us to play games like this because we get a little bored when we are just practicing,“ Maddox said. “I mean, it’s easy to say that we had two easy games and they didn’t really mean anything, but this was the first round of the state tournament and that makes it important.

“I told the girls that games like this were over and everything would be tough the rest of the way and we will need to play our best softball for the rest of the year.”

Hall had two hits to lead Washington County, which ended the season at 5-17.

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Washington County no match for Rutland in first round ."