Holding off a late comeback attempt by Vidalia in the tournament semifinal, the SCHS Lady Gamecocks went on to defeat powerful Savannah Christian 2-0 in the final to claim the championship of the Tattnall County Warrior Blast Tournament late Saturday evening. After winning six straight games over the two-day event and routing Jefferson County Tuesday 14-0, the team travels to South Effingham to face AAAA powerhouse South Effingham this Aug. 26 afternoon. On Friday, the team, coached by Billy Pollock, will begin participation in the Statesboro Battle in the Boro Tournament at the Mill Creek Complex. Among their early round opponents in the ‘Boro will be Metter at 5:45 p.m. and Savannah Christian at 7:30 p.m., both on Friday and Swainsboro at 10:45 a.m. Saturday morning. Beginning at 12:30 p.m., there will be a double-elimination tournament based on pool play. Next week Laney will be here for the home opener in what is a 3AA-A contest Tuesday with South Effingham here on Wednesday and Southeast Bulloch for another subregion encounter on Thursday. All games start at 5 p.m. Facing a team they had previously defeated, but twice in better than 10 tries, the Lady Gamecocks made a pair of runs stand up behind the pitching of Marla Thompson. In her second shutout of the day, Thompson struck out seven, hit one and walked two, one of those a very interesting intentional one. SCHS went nine up and nine down through the first three innings before Sydnee Weaver led off the bottom of the fourth with an infield hit, taking second on an errant throw. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Weaver scored on a double by Tiffanie Burns. A slight bit of breathing room came for Thompson in the fifth when Rochelle Shuman was hit to lead off the inning. Shuman stole second and went to third when the catcher’s throw went array. She then scored on a ground out by Thompson. SCPS made things truly interesting in the top of the sixth, which because of the 90-minute time limit, turned out to be the last inning. Around a strikeout and an amazing catch by Shuman in centerfield, there were a pair of infield errors and an intentional walk to load the bases. A strikeout ended the threat. To reach the championship tilt, the Red and White had to survive an error-filled fifth that saw Vidalia knot the game at four with a four-run inning and another bases-left-loaded sixth. As with the SCPS game, the wet, grass infield in Glennville gave the team problems, especially when it came to throws. The end of the top of the sixth saw a very controversial play at first account for what became the final Vidalia out of the game. Knotted at four, the Lady Gamecocks won the game when Madyson Torres singled with one out, eventually taking third when Thompson’s sacrifice ended with her reaching on a throwing error. Morgan Boswell then grounded to a drawn-in third baseman who tagged Torres out attempting to score, but the throw to get Boswell sailed into the right-field corner enabling courtesy runner Casmeyona Austin to score the winning run. “Now I think they must understand that no one is going to lie down and give them what they deserve. After have a stellar year last year, the stakes are higher this year,” said Pollock, reemphasizing a point he made the previous week. To reach the semifinals, SCHS won their pool with victories over Metter, who also reached the semifinals of the 15-team event, 14-3; Jenkins County 11-1; host Tattnall County 6-0; and AAAAA Bradwell Institute 7-4. For the tournament, both Thompson and sophomore Dawn Stewart claimed three wins -- Thompson with three complete game wins and Stewart with two. Stewart also picked up the win against Metter when the game went five innings and she had three innings pitched. Leading hitters were Torres at .538 (7-13); Thompson at .500 (5-10); Weaver and Boswell at .444 (8-18 and 4-9, respectively); and Thomas at .400 (4-10). Torres had six RBI, with Thompson, Weaver and Shuman with four each. Courtney Burns stole six bases and Thomas four. Over the tournament, 18 different players got at-bats with 12 different players recording hits. Thompson was named the tournament’s “Most Outstanding Pitcher,” while the Burns -- Courtney and Tiffanie -- were each named to the All Tournament Team. On the road in Jefferson County Tuesday afternoon, the SCHS girls defeated the Lady Warriors 14-0 for the season’s first sub-region win.