One region championship is good, but two in as many years is great.

The Creekview Lady Grizzlies won their second consecutive Region 7-AAA title on Friday afternoon with a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the White County Lady Warriors at Lanier Point Park.

The victory gave the Grizzlies their fourth one-run game victory of the tournament. Grizzlies coach Mike Nayman couldn’t have been any happier.

“We’ve had unbelievable games with White County the past two years. We never denied that some of these games weren’t going to be good games during this tournament,” Nayman said. “We had to scratch for runs, we had to bunt sometimes. You are just not going to mow through this region tournament.”

For the Warriors, coach John Brown said he was still very proud of his team.

“We made a few mistakes today,” he said. “The girls have done a great job all year long, and we have to forget what happened today. We’re really pleased with were we are at right now. We are looking forward to the state (playoffs), and being able to play home games.”

As the No. 2 seed from 7-AAA, White County will play host to Ridgeland in a doubleheader on Tuesday in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs. If necessary, the deciding third game will be played Wednesday in Cleveland.
Creekview will play host to 6-AAA’s No. 4 seed Central-Carroll on Tuesday.

The Grizzlies were led by pitcher Haley Brannon who recorded eight strikeouts and gave up only three hits, including a home run on the second pitch of the game to Warriors pitcher Stephanie Satterfield. It was Satterfield’s third home run in three consecutive games in the region tournament.

But it was pinch hitter Lyndsey Larson that sealed with the win with a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh.

With the score knotted at one and the potential game-winning run on first, Nayman called on Larson, a regular starter who started to struggle at the end of the year. She had not seen any action throughout the tournament until the deciding at-bat.

“I told Lyndsey, ‘you never know when the time comes,’” Nayman said.

Larson responded when needed, smacking a line drive for the game-winning hit.

“I wasn’t hitting well lately, but I wasn’t really nervous going up to hit,” Larson said. “I had a talk with coach about getting to play again, and he told me to always be ready. I found satisfaction in that hit.”

After White County took the early lead on Satterfield’s homer, the score remained 1-0 through five and half innings, as Creekview left five runners on base.

But Brannon battled through, keeping the Grizzlies close with a big strikeout, stranding two Warriors on base in the top half of the sixth inning.

“Haley Brannon is tough,” Nayman said.

In the bottom of the sixth, Creekview’s Martha Zimmerman reached on an error, and the Grizzlies took advantage as Jerrah Baker tripled to bring in Zimmerman, tying the game at 1-1, and setting the stage for the final-inning heroics.

West Hall and Lumpkin County also earned playoff berths from Region 7-AAA. West Hall, the No. 3 seed, will travel to play Heritage-Catoosa on Tuesday, while the Indians will be at Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe.