BROOKLET— It’s still a heated rivalry, but now the stakes are a little higher.
    Southeast Bulloch travels to Sylvania this afternoon to take on Screven County on the softball diamond in a 5:30 p.m. showdown. On the line is the No. 1 seed out of the sub-region for the upcoming Region 3-AA tournament.
    “We know that this is a big game,” said SEB coach Aimee Civalier. “We haven’t talked about it much because no one needs to say anything to our girls. They all know what the situation is without me having to tell them anything.”
    A win today would make the Lady Yellow Jackets (13-4-2, 6-1) the top seed entering the region tournament for the first time in three seasons. It would also serve as a little bit of payback as their 1-0 loss to the Lady Gamecocks (9-8, 6-0) earlier this month still stands as their only sub-region setback.
    In that game, Screven’s Dawn Stewart outdueled SEB’s freshman star Sierra Peebles. As the respective aces of their staffs, the two will likely toe the rubber again today.
    Civalier is confident that her team will put up a better showing this time around.
    “We’re still a pretty young team,” she said. “We’ve improved on a lot of things as the season has gone along. We started the season thinking that we’re the team to beat in the region this year and that’s something we still believe.”
    Screven took the opener in the Jackets’ backyard and get to play this one at its home field, but SEB has a history of playing the Gamecocks tough on the road.
    With a roster full of experienced returning starters, there certainly won’t be any intimidation on the Jackets’ part.
    “I really don’t think (playing on the road) is too big of a deal,” said Civalier. “Everyone has been there before and it’s close enough that I’m sure we’ll have a good crowd of our own fans.”
    Grabbing the top spot away from Screven in the final region game of the season is seemingly the next logical step in what has become one of the best rivalries in South Georgia.
    The Lady Gamecocks owned the top spot in Region 3-AA in 2006-07, but by riding the power pitching of Megan Barnwell SEB took the title away from Screven in 2008. Screven took back the region in 2009, but now— with a high-octane duo of pitchers in Peebles and Taylor Wilkes — the Jackets believe that it is their time once again.
   
    Mike Anthony can be reached at (912) 489-9404.