Durden pitches Tift County past Newton in opening round

COVINGTON, Ga. - Adriana Durden pitched the Tift County softball team into the second round of the state playoffs Wednesday.

Durden tossed a pair of complete game shutouts as Region 1 No. 3 Tift County swept Region 2 runner-up Newton in a first round series in Class AAAAAA.

Facing elimination and trailing 1-0 in the top of the third of game two, Newton got a one-out single by Ciara Bryan. Durden was particularly stingy after that, not allowing a hit the rest of the way. Only when shortstop Joslyn Reyes dropped pinch-hitter Shelbi Landreau’s line drive in the fifth did the Rams have another base-runner over the final four innings of a 2-0 victory.

Tift County, which will travel to Region 4 champion Harrison in the second round, built its lead with single runs in the second and sixth. In the home half of the second, Kaitlin Tucker led off with a double and after a ground out moved her to third, Madison Robinson lifted a sacrifice fly to left field and the Blue Devils went up 1-0.

That was the only run Tift County would need, but the visitors built a two-run cushion in the sixth on consecutive doubles by Reyes and Taylor Corbett.

After Reyes’ error, Durden retired the final seven batters she faced on just 18 pitches and ended Newton’s season by allowing just three singles and striking out six.

Durden was outstanding in the opener as well, striking out 13 and allowing just four hits in a 3-0 win.

The Newton offense had its best chance to score in the bottom of the first. Bryan took the second pitch she saw and ripped a triple to dead-center field. Madison Cronic reached on a bunt single and pinch-runner Merlexia Maddox stole second to put runners at second and third with one out. That’s where Durden began a dominant stretch, striking out Ashley Weesner and Ashton Mckinnon to escape any harm. Those were the first of six consecutive strikeouts for Durden and after Bryan’s one-out single in the third (Bryan was later caught stealing by Corbett) the junior hurler retired 12 straight batters.

Tift County got all the runs it would need in the top of the fifth. Cronic, who went the distance and took the loss, walked Robinson to start the frame and Hannah Hartsfield and Rebecca Sexton had singles to load the bases with one out.

Reyes’ sacrifice fly allowed Robinson to trot home with the first run of the game. Corbett, who went 5-for-7 with a walk in the doubleheader, followed with a two-run double that made it a 3-0 game.

For Newton, Bryan went 4-for-6 in the two games, but the rest of the offense had just three hits in 43 plate appearances.


Photo: Newton's Ciara Bryan bats against Tift County's Adriana Durden Wednesday in Covington.