The Long County Lady Blue Tide softball team’s historic 2025 season came to an unexpected early end as they fell to the Pickens Dragonettes in the second round of the Class AAA state tournament.
Pickens swept the best-of-three series, winning the first game 5-3 and coming from behind to take the second game 9-8.
The Tide scored eight runs in the top of the second inning of game two.
Miley Maulden drew a two-out bases-loaded walk in the top of the second inning, and Catherine Sikes reached on an error, bringing in two more runs. After a Sophia Brewster single, Sikes scored on a passed ball. Jersi Lester also reached on an error, scoring another run, and with the ball rolling down near the right field fence, Lester also came around to score.
Mackenzie Crews singled and also scored on a passed ball to give the Tide an 8-0 lead.
The Dragonettes cut into the Tide’s lead as their three hits and a walk gave them two runs to make it 8-2 going into the third.
The Dragonettes loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth on two hits and a hit batter. The Dragonettes cut the lead to 8-6 on two two-run doubles. The Tide couldn’t get a pop up to shallow center field, which brought in another run, and Pickens grabbed the lead on a two-run single to right.
Long County went down in order in the next two innings but got the tying run to third in the top of the seventh. Lester walked, stole second base and went to third on a passed ball with one out. But the Tide couldn’t bring her in and a grounder to shortstop led to the final out of the series and the season.
In the first game, the Dragonettes had the first scoring chance in the top of the first, but Hollan Clark’s play at the left field fence kept them off the board.
Pickens scored in the second, pulling off a two-out double steal.
Things went really wrong for the Tide in the next inning. Back-to-back errors put runners on second and third with no outs, and a double to left pushed the Dragonettes’ lead to 3-0. A run-scoring single gave Pickens a 4-0 cushion.
Pickens added another run in the fourth and the Tide struggles kept up as they only got one on in the bottom of the fourth.
The Tide bats finally got some life in the bottom of the fifth. Maulden hit a two-run home run over the centerfield wall to make the score 5-2 going into the sixth.
Maulden added a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the seventh.
With the loss, the Tide’s season comes to an end with a record of 27-6, a team record for wins in a season. Brewster finishes out her phenomenal freshman season with 231 strikeouts, three shy of tying the single-season record.
The Tide had no seniors on the team this season, so all will seemingly return in 2026 for another possible run at a region and state championship.