Houston County blows past River Ridge

With two swings of the bat, a one-run game turned into a blowout.

Caitlyn Davis and Autumn Ring both connected for three-run home runs Thursday as the Houston County Bears ran away from River Ridge 11-2 in Game 3 of their softball playoff series to advance to the GHSA Class AAAAA Elite Eight in Columbus.

"We prepared a long time, watch film, and we were ready," Davis said. "On the home run, I saw there were runners on first and third, knew it was a big situation and just looked for my pitch to hit. She didn't give me one on first one, so I took a deep breath. And then all (the batting) cages, all reps, everything, the weight room all came into play, and I hit it. I'm so proud of this team."

On Wednesday, River Ridge won Game 1 5-2, but Houston County stormed back in Game 2 with a 10-1 rout to force a deciding Game 3.

And the offense did not let up in Game 3, pounding out 11 hits. Already with a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly by Ring to score the runner from third, the Bears increased their lead 3-0 in the top of the third after Davis connected for a RBI double and a River Ridge throwing error pushed another Bears run across the plate.

River Ridge, however, answered in the bottom half of the third inning (Houston County was the visiting team) when Addison Gray grounded into a fielders choice that scored the runner from third and Shelby Suggs connected for a RBI single to cut the River Ridge deficit to 3-2.

Two innings later, Davis and Ring put the game away in what turned out to be a seven-run top half of the fifth.

"I really thought we took the momentum from (Game 2) and brought it into (Thursday)," Houston County head coach Angela Crawford said. "We were just better from a team morale standpoint, and our attitude was so much better than (Wednesday), I knew we would at least compete and have a chance. Not like Game 1 at all where we played scared."

The River Ridge offense was held in check for the most part as Houston County starting pitcher Sarah Smith was fantastic through all five innings. Smith pitched all three games in the series for the Bears.

"Sarah did a great job for us out there," Crawford said. "Defensively we had our little blunders, but for the most part we stood up behind her, made some plays and were able to back her up. This gives us a lot of confidence going forward. We are a good softball team and have been a good team all year, and this was great just to help us remember that we are a good team."

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 9:02 PM with the headline "Houston County blows past River Ridge ."