The Fillies opened region play on Monday, May 13, with a 4-2 win over Loretto and guaranteed themselves at least two more games on the season. But the season came to an end on Friday during a sectional contest in Columbia as the Fillies fell a game short of the state tournament with a 7-1 loss to the Lady Dawgs.
The Fillies, who finished the season 28-10-1 with the loss, got off to a good start against Columbia Academy as junior Kaci Fuller, who has already committed to play at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte after her senior year, homered on the first pitch of the game to give the Fillies a 1-0 lead.
But the Fillies only mustered three more hits in the game. Leah Hayes singled with one out in the first but was left stranded as Columbia Academy ace pitcher Brittany Adair finished the game with 16 strikeouts, boosting the Lady Dawgs to the state tournament.
The Lady Dawgs scored two in the first on only one hit but took advantage of two Fillies errors to take the lead. The scored stayed 2-1 until the fourth when Columbia Academy scored three times as Karli Gullin doubled in two runs in the inning, and the Lady Dawgs led 5-1. They would add two more in the bottom of the sixth, and Adair, with a 7-1 lead going to the seventh struck out the side, advancing Columbia Academy to state.
The Fillies started the week with a 4-2 win at home against Loretto, scoring all their runs in the fifth inning to break a 0-0 tie. Ryleigh Bailey led off the inning with a walk, Kaci Fuller walked, Alli Jones walked, and Leah Hayes drove in a couple of runs with a single. A third run wsa scored on a throwing error for a 3-0 lead. Grace Guarino singled in the fourth run.
Loretto scored single runs in the fifth and sixth inning, but Adyn Swenson, who went the distance, shut them down in the seventh, advancing the Fillies to the region final on Tuesday.
The Fillies faced off against Summertown on the road in the region final and suffered a heartbreaking 5-4 loss. The Fillies took a 1-0 lead in the first as Fuller singled to lead off the game and scored on a Leah Hayes single. Summertown scored three in the bottom of the first to go up 3-1 with a two-run home run off the bat of Claire Woods.
The Fillies tied the game at 3-3 in the second as Guarino doubled, and Kenadie Gibson and Bailey both produced RBI singles. The scored stayed tied until the third when Summertown scored twice to lead 5-3.
Huntingdon rallied in the seventh as Fuller led off the inning with a triple, Jones struck out, Hayes popped up, and Kelsey Hayes singled in Fuller to make it 5-4. But Guarino was a strikeout victim, and the Fillies fell by one before making the trip to Columbia on Friday for the sectional.
