In a day normally reserved for football, softball dominated the Brooklet Recreation fields for a good cause Saturday morning.
    Even with Hurricane Irma forcing Jenkins and Islands out of the mix, Bryan County was able to fill in so seven teams could participate at the SEB Diamond Day tournament for the Breast Cancer Foundation. SEB head coach Aimee Civalier says she wishes she could have advertised the fundraising aspect of the tournament more, but it didn’t affect the gate the tournament picked up after seven games.
    “It was a beautiful day with some really good teams here and competitive games here,” Civalier said. “We donate every two dollars for every ticket sold it to breast cancer. So with $1200 total at the gate, we’ll give 368 dollars back.”
    As it turns out the out-of-county schools were the ones who showed out the best. Metter and Tattnall County both managed to go 2-0 — with Metter scoring victories over region foe Bryan County 8-0 in six innings and rival ECI 9-2. Tattnall was the surprise of the tournament, considering they came in with only six wins on their season.
    The Battle Creek Warriors shut out host Southeast Bulloch 4-0 and then beat Bulloch Academy 3-1 in the final game of the day. Bryan County would be the only team alongside BA to go winless at 0-2, while ECI, SHS and SEB would all split games 1-1.
    Here’s a more detailed look at how the Bulloch County schools fared:

SEB
    The first game for SEB didn’t go quite as planned in a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Tattnall County. TCHS jumped on SEB starter Mackenzie Glisson early with a pair of doubles in the first inning to go up 2-0, then string together three, two-out singles in the second inning to make it 3-0.
    On the other end Morgan Cronan had a whale of a game on the mound for TCHS. The junior allowed one hit and only three total baserunners in the five inning game shortened for tournament time constraints. SEB found a way to put all three of their baserunners in scoring position, but each time failed to score a run.
    “We pitched fine, there were a few errors but when you don’t score any runs the pitching doesn’t matter,” Civalier said. “We came out a little flat and we did much better in the second game. This tournament is all about getting good non-region competition in.”
    SEB did fare better in their second game against Bryan County, winning 6-3. Glisson went 2-3 with a triple and three RBI. Mallory Hardy went 2-3 with two runs scored while Shylah Thames, Mallory Lewis and Madison Grams would each pick up RBI.
    SEB (10-4, 8-0) faces a loaded region slate next week with four games in four days, starting with a road trip to Windsor Forest Monday at 4:30 p.m.

Statesboro
    Statesboro got off to a slow start as well, though they may have a better excuse for dropping their opener to ECI. Statesboro pitcher their No. 2 starter Madi Mobley, who was touched up by the Bulldogs for seven runs off 12 hits in a 7-3 defeat.
    Statesboro was able to sneak in three runs at the end of the game before it was called for time constraints, with Hartlee Faircloth nailing a two-RBI double and Kinlee Carter picking up an RBI as well. Simmons allowed some of his younger players to get in against ECI and was proud of how they responded.
    “They played very well and fought back down 7-0 with two-outs,” Simmons said. “They hung in there with a girl who was a good of a pitcher as those girls have seen.”
    However in the marquee game of the day between the Blue Devils and BA, Simmons would start his ace Brinson Anne Rogers and got the results he’s come used to from the sophomore. Rogers would strike out nine Gators and allow just six baserunners in seven innings to help Statesboro win 2-1.
    Statesboro trailed 1-0 heading to the bottom of the fourth inning, but Rogers would help with her own run support by singling with runners on second and third to tie the game. Cassidi Rushing would give Statesboro the lead with a sac fly to drive in Kannette King, while Rogers would hold off the Gator offense the rest of the game.
    “We have a big week next week, going to Ware County Tuesday, hosting South Effingham Wednesday and going back to Wayne County Thursday,” Simmons said. “We’re all playing for seeding right now.”
    Statesboro (10-5, 3-1) will face Ware County at 5:00 Tuesday in Waycross.

Bulloch Academy
    No one likes to go 0-2 in a tournament, but for BA it wasn’t the worst pair of games they could have played — especially considering they’re a GISA school playing up against 3A and 5A competition.
    Even crazier is the fact Baylee Howard didn’t pitch in either game, it was BA’s No. 2 pitcher Janna Beth Marsh who helped hold down the Tattnall County and Statesboro offense. Against Statesboro Marsh threw 50 strikes on 70 pitches, allowed five hits and only one earned run.
    It was a shame her only run support came off the bat of Saylor Callaway in the first inning, but she was dueling a legitimate ace in Rogers for Statesboro.
    “It’s big to see Janna Beth perform like that, she played well for us and we’ll need her to do that later this season,” said BA head coach Kyle Chambers. “She proved she could compete today.”
    Marsh would only allow one earned run off seven hits in the 3-1 loss to Tattnall County. The Gators lone run would come from a Callaway single in the fifth inning to score Kacie Ricketts.
    BA’s (5-5-2, 1-2) next game is a crucial region showdown with Pinewood on Tuesday at 4:30.