Sandy Creek coach Lisa Pearce feels her six-player senior class is one of the most special she has ever coached.

Her talented senior class, as a whole, turned in one of its best performances in perhaps 10th-ranked Creek’s most important game of the year, a 5-4 victory over top-ranked Whitewater in a Region 5A-AAAA game on Senior Night in Tyrone that sealed the No 1 seed in next week’s region tournament.

With its fourth consecutive victory, Creek (23-6-1, 11-1 region) finished the regular season one game ahead of both second-place Northgate (8-8-1, 6-1 region) and third-place Whitewater (22-6, 10-2) in the region standings. Northgate finished with the same number of losses in the region as Creek, but Creek’s 6-5 victory over Northgate in eight innings last week was the tiebreaker.

Creek’s six seniors were honored prior to its last game before the region tournament: Hannah Braswell, Kayla Folds, Meagan Sitton, Candace Dunn, Morgan Toles and Raven Moore. Almost all of them made a significant impact on the outcome of the game.

“This is a very special group for me,” Pearce said of her seniors. “From their freshman year to today, it’s more than just a player-coach [relationship]; I love them. They fight back when people say they can’t. They have a lot of pride in their program. I’ve never been around a group of seniors that cared so much about their program.

“... You can’t teach instinct, desire and all that stuff. It’s something they pride themselves on.”

Whitewater’s potent lineup caused early problems for Creek’s starting pitcher, Braswell, who loaded the bases in both the first and third innings. Braswell did, however, escape without much damage being done, limiting Whitewater to one run.

Whitewater’s first two batters in the top of the first inning, McKenzie Woody and Melanie Ennis, reached on singles, and its No. 3 batter, Haley Richards, was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

One out later, Braswell got Kaitlyn Johnson to swing at a high pitch for strike three, but the ball got past Creek catcher Mackenzie Arlt, allowing Woody to score from third.

Braswell shook off the wild pitch and struck out Lauren Williamon to conclude the inning.

In the third, Braswell walked Richards and, one out later, gave up a bunt single to Johnson and walked Williamon.

Braswell again walked away unscathed, striking out Ashley Schwab on a high pitch and inducing MacKenzie Mosley to hit an inning-ending pop-up to first.

Creek’s first productive inning at the plate against Whitewater ace Whitney Toler came in the third, when Folds led off with a single to left field, and Alice Boone followed with a bunt single.

Then Mallory Muncher put down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position for Sitton, who delivered a clutch hit, a game-tying RBI single to center field.

Dunn hit what appeared to be a harmless grounder to first in Creek’s next at-bat, but she reached on a fielding error, which allowed Boone to score the go-ahead run from third.

Whitewater came back in the fourth and pulled ahead by a run, 3-2.

Woody hit a one-out single up the middle, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Ennis and reached third on a passed ball. A wild pitch by Braswell sent Woody home to tie the game.

After Richards drew a walk, Jamie Saunders crushed a two-out RBI double off the top of the left field fence — the second straight game she has hit that spot — to put Whitewater back in front 3-2.

Pearce called on Folds to replace Braswell, and Folds provided the relief her coach sought, inducing Johnson to fly out to right field to end the inning.

Creek’s senior pitching combination, Braswell and Folds, helped the Lady Patriots regain the lead with their bats in the bottom half of the inning.

Braswell lined a double to left field, and Folds followed with a line drive that glanced off the tip of left fielder Ennis’ glove and scored pinch-runner Toles, who was celebrating her 18th birthday.

One out later, Muncher put down a sacrifice bunt that first baseman Saunders fielded and tossed home to Johnson, who applied the tag to a sliding Braswell, but Johnson could not hold onto the ball.

Braswell’s run gave Creek a 4-3 lead.

Dunn added to Creek’s lead in the fifth with a leadoff triple to right field. An errant throw to third on the play sent Dunn home to make it 5-3.

Whitewater rallied with two outs in the seventh.

Megan Gentry hit a bloop single to left field, and Nikki Montesanti drilled an RBI double to right-center field.

Folds ended the game by getting Woody to hit a first-pitch grounder to third.

A significant problem for Whitewater throughout the night was its inability to take advantage of having runners on base. It stranded nine runners.

Clutch pitching by both Braswell and Folds certainly didn’t help.

Folds struck out two, walked two and gave up two hits and one run to record the victory in three-plus innings.

Braswell struck out four and allowed six hits, three runs, four walks and one hit batsman in three-plus innings.

“I told both out pitchers, ‘Both of you are pitching tonight,’” Pearce said. “Kayla knew she was going to come in and get those last three innings ... Whenever she was going in, she knew what she had to do. Hannah and Kayla are just two different pitchers, two different styles.”

The top eight teams from the region will play in the region tournament, which starts Monday at Meade Field in Peachtree City. Creek, Northgate, Whitewater, Alexander, Villa Ricca and Starr’s Mill have earned spots in the tournament.

Two other local teams, McIntosh and Fayette County, were in contention with Douglas County and Lithia Springs for the final two spots as of press time.

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