Thursday after Southeast Bulloch had just finished a pair of demolitions against Islands, Yellow Jackets head coach Aimee Civalier told her team that Monday’s game with Bulloch Academy was a “revenge game.”
    It was for good reason too. BA beat SEB 6-5 in Statesboro back on Aug. 15 in a game that raised a lot of eyebrows around the softball community. The game sent SEB into a 0-3 start and BA to a 2-0-1 start — but scripts flipped drastically after that game on their respective seasons.
    SEB has since gone 15-2 and remain unbeaten in region play, while BA had skidded along 4-6-1 and are 2-3 in region with one more matchup with Edmund Burke looming this afternoon. But those narratives rolled into Monday second clash between the two sides as SEB used a big fourth inning to roll past BA 12-4 in less than five innings.
    The game should be dubbed the “dust bowl” for the amount of dirt kicked up into the air by heavy duty farm equipment across the street. By the middle of the fourth inning there was a clear haze over the field, causing players to have to take time out of their at-bats to wipe the dirt out of their eyes.
    “I think they were pulling up peanuts, the peanut smell is what is what I noticed more than anything,” said BA head coach Kyle Chambers. “But I don’t think it had any real affect on the game.”
    The dust didn’t seem to bother the Yellow Jackets, as they saw right through it to put together the biggest inning of the night. Trailing 3-2, SEB would load the bases with their first three plate appearances, but Brylie Ritchie would hit a soft grounder to short to allow BA to throw home to force out number one and save their lead.
    But BA pitcher Baylee Howard, who had already allowed seven base runners up to that point, started to lose her grip on the game when she walked Zoriah Wadley with the bases loaded to tie the game. Then up came Emily Barnard, who had already reached base twice on what was her senior night.
    Barnard worked a full count before smacking a single to straightaway center to give SEB the lead. It was after Barnard’s at-bat that the floodgates really broke lose. Mackinley Fields would walk with the bases loaded to make it 5-3, then Mackenzie Glisson — also celebrating senior night — would double to clear the bases to make it 8-3.
    “Our offense is really clicking right now but I can’t say enough about my seniors,” Civalier said. “Mackenzie (Glisson) has had an awesome senior year and nearly put that double over the wall.”
    BA would manage one more run from the bat of Regan Ellis in the top of the fifth, but wouldn’t do themselves any favors by committing back-to-back errors to open the home half of the inning. All of SEB’s runs in the fifth inning came on BA blunders — a third error and a passed ball.
    The Gators have now lost seven of their last 12 games heading into a crucial part of their season. No matter what happens in region, BA will make the playoffs but their seeding is still up for grabs with that Edmund Burke game lined up tonight. Chambers says he’s not going to blame the hurricane delay, but he’s noticed a dip in production since the break.
    “It seems like when we came back from the hurricane we fell back into this going through the motions phase,” Chambers said. “We just don’t have the whole team clicking — we’ve got two weeks to find where we were at the beginning of the season.”
    As for SEB, they still have to play Groves and Jenkins in region play to lock up a region championship for the second season in a row. They’ll see Groves tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. in Savannah.
    “Last year we said we’ve got some big shoes to fill with those seniors who left,” Glisson said. “But I’ve got some big feet. We’re good.”