Saturday's Central Georgia News 'n Notes: Stratfordite leads UGA; GISA finals continue; Mercer loses, wins; Braves fall; UGA football move; and much more

Saturday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.

Maconite leads Georgia softball to World Series

          Stratford alum Mary Wilson Avant went the distance and survived some hiccups as Georgia beat Tennessee 2-1 in eight innings to advance to the Women's College World Series.

          Details in area college baseball/softball scoreboard.

Piedmont, Windsor set up third game in GISA AA final

          Piedmont took an first-inning lead and got enough in the fourth to seal an 8-2 win over Windsor to even their GISA Class AA championship series.

          The final will be at about 3:30 p.m. or so on Sunday at Mercer's OrthoGeorgia Park, after the Class AAA championship between Frederica and Trinity Christian-Sharpsburg.

          The Knights were plagued by four errors, leading to three unearned runs. Tale Marks went the distance and struck out seven with no walks.

          Cameron Mobley, Marks, Chase Porter, Sam Wright, and Owen Brady had two hits each for the Cougars, while Cooper Daniels had two hits for Windsor.

          Windsor scored two in the sixth for Friday's 4-2 win that was completed on Saturday.

          Brayden Leslie and Nick Moss had two hits each for the Knights, who got the two in the sixth on B Leslie's double.

College Baseball: Mercer advances to championship

          Mercer lost early Saturday, but dumped upstart Western Carolina later to get a date with Samford on Sunday for the Southern Conference title.

          Details in the area/state college conference scoreboard in The Latest Coverage.

Newcomb has rare struggles in homecoming at Boston

          Sean Newcomb was hoping for a much better day while pitching near home, but it didn't happen in Boston's 8-6 win over Atlanta.

Georgia backup, walk-on Stetson Bennett, heading elsewhere

          Pierce County's Stetson Bennett was a quality walk-on quarterback who drew plenty of praise last year, but knowing he had no chance to play at Georgia, he's transferring.

 'Baby Braves' growing up, among great young duos

          There are loads of legenary young pairings in baseball, and Atlanta has one.

This Week's Signings

          West Laurens boys basketball player Keonta Tyler will continue his career at Albany Tech.

          Five Houston County baseball players took part Monday in a signing ceremony.

          Logan Morris and Chandler Ring are headed to East Georgia State, a junior college in Swainsboro that had Central Georgians Case Matthews (West Laurens) and Parker Stahlman (Perry) on the 2018 roster.

          Dillon Toms signed with Lee University, a member of the Gulf South Conference

          Conner Martin will play for Wilson College, a Division III program in Chambersburg, Pa. And Jackson Jones signed with Covenant College, a Division III program in Lookout Mountain, Ga. whose 2018 roster included Stratford's John Mitchell. ...

          Perry's John Micah Law has signed to play baseball at Augusta University.

This Week's Honor Roll

          Georgia College is still taking in baseball honors.

          The latest list is led by Charlie Hecht, named All-Southeast pitcher of the year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

          Peach Belt player of the year Logan Mattix was a first-team pick, while Matthew Miller and Bradly Cammack made the second team.

          Five Bobcats were named to the all-region team by the national college baseball writers and the Division II Conference Commissioners Association.

          Mattix, Hecht, and utility Nate Schmal made the first team on both lists, and Miller and outfielder Wesley Wommack the second team on both.

          Hecht was named the region's pitcher of the year by both groups, with D2CCA tabbing Mattix as the region player of the year.