Georgetown softball tops North Myrtle Beach, wins region title

LITTLE RIVER | Georgetown is willing to continue to break its softball character as long as it produces these types of results.

The Bulldogs clinched the Region VII-AAA title with a 3-0 victory over North Myrtle Beach Thursday. The win came after a pair of late home runs, including Kirsten Vause’s two-run shot in the sixth.

“Normally we do small ball,” Vause said. “We haven’t had two home runs in a game.”

Vause confirmed with coach Whitney Ramsing, who said it was the first time this season Georgetown has had a pair of long balls in a single game. They came at the perfect time.

Vause’s was a no-doubter the second it left the bat. It cleared the left-center wall by more than 50 feet, bringing home Anna James, who had reached two batters earlier with a single.

The previous innings, Taylor Graham’s solo shot to center broke a scoreless tie.

Combined with James’ three-hitter from the rubber, and Georgetown was able to celebrate in right field after the game.

The game means that all four playoff spots from Region VII-AAA have now been determined. North Myrtle Beach will finish second, with St. James and Myrtle Beach owning the third and fourth seeds, respectively, in the playoffs next Friday.

Georgetown, which fell to St. James on the road Wednesday, made sure it took care of business in the winner-take-all game in Little River.

“We didn’t really do anything wrong [against St. James]. We just came up short,” Ramsing said. “It was up to them on how they would respond.”

North Myrtle Beach’s had its opportunities.

The Chiefs hit the ball hard throughout most of the night, only to find it in a Georgetown glove. That was particularly the case in the sixth and seventh innings, when North Myrtle Beach left three runners in scoring position.

“They got discouraged and they expected to win,” Graves said. “If they didn’t expect to win, I’d be discouraged. That’s a mentality they’ve got to have every game. We’ve got a good shot of winning every game.”

That goes for Friday’s region finale against Myrtle Beach and a Monday non-region game, not to mention next week’s first-round home playoff game. Although the state’s softball coaches did not conduct a South Carolina poll this year, both teams would likely be locks for top-10 spots, and many believe a rematch in the Lower State tournament is a possibility.

Of course, both would have to win their district tournaments.

The game, originally scheduled for last week before a rainout, was delayed nearly 90 minutes due to a lengthy junior varsity game. Tacked on to an hour bus ride from Georgetown, and the Bulldogs probably weren’t in the most ideal of situations to win the game.

After the two home runs, none of that mattered.

“The first few innings, we were obviously nervous,” Vause said. “As we get through, we’ve been together so long. We pulled through and came out on top.”

This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Georgetown softball tops North Myrtle Beach, wins region title."