The Long County Lady Blue Tide softball team made history Thursday when they defeated the Oconee County Warriors in game three of the second round of the state playoffs.

The 7-3 win pushed them to the GHSA Class AAAA state softball tournament in Columbus. This is just the second time the team has made it to Columbus and the first time since 2003, but also the first time the team has done so since the playoffs expanded to 32 teams.

The Tide took an early 3-0 lead in the decisive game as MK Crews brought home a run on a double and Lana Lewis doubled to center to bring home two more runs.

Sophia Brewster’s sacrifice and Yaya Sikes’ single in the second inning each brought in a run, giving the Tide a 5-0 advantage.

In the fourth, Crews brought home another run on a single to put them up 6-0. The Warriors finally came to life in the top of the fifth as they scored three runs to cut the Tide’s lead in half.
Crews gave the Tide one more insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice RBI. After her three-RBI day, she wanted to make sure she knew she did this for her team.

“I feel like the goal was to not be selfish and give it to my team,” Crews said. “Just to hopefully score a run for my team so that we could win - just putting the team before myself as opposed to yesterday where I was little more about myself. Today, I just tried to take off and be calm.”

They will play in the first game of the double elimination tournament on Wednesday, October 28 against the Pickens Dragons, the team that eliminated them from the playoffs in 2025.