The 2011 high school fast pitch softball season is winding down and nine DeKalb County Schools participants are jockeying for better seeding in the region tournaments set for next week.
The Lakeside Lady Vikings appear to have the No. 2 seed out of Region 6A-AAAA clinched with one game to play against Tucker today at Kelly Cofer Park in Tucker at 5:30 p.m.
The Lady Vikings (14-1, 9-1) rallied from a 2-0 deficit in a rain-delayed game against Region 6B-AAAA leader Southwest DeKalb (8-6, 6-4) on Monday to seal the seeding.
Lakeside had fallen behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning last Thursday when the rain and lightning postponed the game to Monday. Junior Marie Collop, the county leader in ERA at 1.65 with 67 strikeouts and only 8 walks, worked out of a bases-loaded jam with three consecutive strikeouts to prevent further damage.
Senior Trenece Nash leads the Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers with a .692 batting average, three homers, eight doubles and 24 RBIs. The .692 average is good for third in the county standings.
Chamblee (13-5, 8-2) and Dunwoody (9-9, 7-2) are battling for the third seed in 6A-AAAA with Dunwoody holding the edge with a victory over the Lady Bulldogs.
Chamblee has remaining games with Southwest and Marist while Dunwoody has a rain out with Tucker and a game against Redan remaining.
Tucker (11-4, 6-2) is battling those two for the third seed/fourth seed slot as well, but has remaining games with Lakeside and Miller Grove this week.
Four DeKalb teams look to have region tournament berths clinched in Region 5-AAA as the season comes to an end.
Druid Hills (9-13, 3-2) should go in to the tournament as the No. 4 seed from 5B-AAA and would face 5A-AAA leader Woodward Academy in the opening round.
Arabia Mountain (10-2, 4-1) is coming off a tough 6-4 loss to Woodward last week which dropped them to the No. 2 seed out of 5B-AAA.
Columbia (9-9, 3-2) and Cedar Grove (3-4, 2-2) faceoff on Wednesday and the winner takes the No. 3 seed and the loser goes in as the No. 4 seed out of 5B-AAA.
Mark Brock is the Athletics Statistician and Information Officer for DeKalb County Schools Athletics