GHSA softball championship tournament Saturday: FPD stops Tattnall, stopped by Prince Ave. (5:45 p.m. update, final)

          FPD didn’t have much time after dispatching Tattnall to get ready for the next game in the GHSA softball championship tournament.

          And it caught up with the Vikings, who scored first couldn’t get anything going after that in losing 4-1 to Prince Avenue Christian in an elimination game in Columbus Saturday afternoon.

          Monticello advanced with a 6-1 elimination-game win over Jeff Davis but then was beaten 5-2 by Banks County - which beat Dodge County in the second game – to be sent home.

Karsen Ochs

          PAC put together some small-ball to score two in the third, with a steal, sacrifice and a couple singles. The Vikings managed runners, but were retired in order in the sixth and seventh after Prince Avenue had added single runs in the fifth and sixth.

          Abby Surles had two hits for the Vikings. Pitcher Karsen Oches fanned six with two walks, surrendering eight hits. She finishes her high school career with more than 600 strikeouts, and about a 4-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

          Monticello led all the way in sending Jeff Davis home, with single runs in the second and third and two in the fifth and seventh.

          Mia Jenkins went 3-for-3 while Lacy Rutledge had two hits and four RBI for Monticello. Bailey Jenkins struck out three with no walks and four hits.

          Earlier Saturday, FPD scored two in the first and got what it needed to win with two in the fourth en route to a 9-2 win Saturday morning over Tattnall in an elimination game in Columbus.

          The Trojans hurt themselves with four errors, leading to a whopping seven unearned runs (according to Tattnall stats; FPD had the Trojans with two errors and one unearned run). Otherwise, Tattnall fared fairly well against Ochs, striking out only once.

          The Trojans stranded five runners, as did the Vikings, who sealed the game with five runs in the sixth.

          Olivia Parker was one of three Vikings with two hits, but she drove in four runs with a grand slam. Ochs and Mindy Carol Register added homers and the other two-hit games.

          Banks County followed Monticello’s one-run first with a three-run second and added a cushion of two in the seventh, holding the Hurricanes to only two hits. One was a homer by Mia Jenkins. Avery Barton struck out six with no walks in 5.2 innings of relief.