The Jones County High fastpitch softball team (19-13 overall, 13-4 in 4-AAAA) entered the region 4-AAAA tournament last weekend in Milledgeville with only two regular-season losses to region foes, both of which came at the hands of Northside (27-6, 16-0).

When Jones met Northside again in the region tourney, not once, but twice, the Lady Greyhounds found out that the third time is not necessarily the charm, and neither is the fourth time.

The Lady ’Hounds did, however, prove that they were the next-best team in 4-AAAA behind the Lady Eagles and earned the region’s second seed for this weekend’s AAAA South Sectional at Lovejoy Regional Park in Hampton.

Jones beat Dutchtown 4-2 last Thursday to earn the runner-up spot in region four.

With the game knotted at 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth, a Katelyn Smith pop-up fell in-between the Lady Bulldogs’ first and second basemen to score the eventual winning run, as pinch runner Kaley Payne crossed the plate from third.

A wild pitch with the next batter, Mallory Davis, at the plate scored the one insurance run as Stephanie Lumley came home.

Pitcher Caitlyn Asbell then retired five of the next six Dutchtown batters before getting into a little trouble in the top of the seventh.

With two outs, Asbell served up back-to-back singles before second baseman Megan Greene scooped up a ground ball and tagged the bag for the final out of the game.

Asbell pitched the final six-and-two-thirds innings after starter Kristen Carr walked three of the first four batters and allowed a run to open the contest.

Asbell struck out three and allowed just three hits and six total baserunners.

“Asbell came in in relief and did exactly what we needed – she threw strikes,” Jones head coach Blake Lyons said.

The win set up a fourth match-up with Northside just one day after Jones played its best game against the Eagles, losing 1-0 after having a runner thrown out at the plate in the sixth inning and leaving another in scoring position.

“The girls really wanted another shot at Northside,” Lyons said.

Unfortunately, five unearned runs sparked the Lady Eagles’ most decisive victory over the Lady ’Hounds this season, 5-0.

“The way we gave runs away are fixable, and they were mistakes that we shouldn’t be making at this time in the year,” Lyons said. “We’ll work with the girls to eliminate that from happening.”

Northside scored two runs in the second inning on a double that hugged the right-field line. The bases were loaded for the timely hit due to a misplayed ground ball, a single, and a walk.

The Eagles scored their final three runs in third with two outs.

A single and a walk preceded a passed ball at first that allowed both base runners to score on what should have been the final put out of the inning. Another single followed to score one more Lady Eagle.

Prior to those two games against Northside and the one against Dutchtown, the Lady ’Hounds won their opening two contests of the tourney against Mt. Zion and Griffin.

Jones’ first 15 batters scored in a 20-0 three-inning romp of Mt. Zion.

Asbell recorded all nine outs courtesy of strikeouts, allowing just one base runner in the third inning due to a walk.

In a 2-1 win over Griffin, Chelsi Sawyer’s sixth-inning RBI single proved to be the difference, as Lumley knocked in the other Greyhound run in the first.

Carr earned the win, striking out eight while allowing just two hits and the lone run, which was unearned.

Asbell pitched the 1-0 loss to Northside, striking out three and allowing five hits, including a double and a run-scoring single in the decisive fourth inning.

Kristin Loth and Taylor Williams, the two least-used pitchers at the varsity level in the ’Hounds’ four-deep rotation, pitched the 5-0 loss to Northside and performed admirably, allowing no runs of the earned variety.

“We just came up a little short,” Lyons said of the tournament. “Hopefully region runner-up is a pretty good start to another two weeks of softball.”

Jones will begin play Friday, 4 p.m., against Whitewater.

The Lady Wildcats (22-9-1 overall, 6-2 in 2-AAAA) are the third seed from their region and defeated the Lady Greyhounds 5-0 Aug. 18 in the Sandy Creek High Tournament.

“That was our first tournament, and we knew, because of the new coaching staff, that our level of improvement at the end of the season would be greater than theirs,” Lyons said of the previous contest. “That was really just a chance for me to put the girls out there and see how they were playing without really knowing what we were capable of doing.”

Lyons said that his team’s focus in the tournament should be to play its own game, which this season has primarily consisted of solid pitching, near-perfect defense, and a ‘small ball’ approach offensively.

“We’re not the type of team where we can do a number of things to expose somebodys else’s weaknesses,” he said.

Depending upon whether the Lady ’Hounds win or lose against Whitewater, they will play either 8 p.m. Friday night or 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

A complete bracket for the sectional can be found at http://www.gasports.com/?template=7&webyear=2008&sport=2&class=4§ion=South.