Bookend losses to the Brantley Bulldogs ended the Belgreen Bulldogs’ run at a softball state championship. Brantley beat Belgreen 1-0 Friday in game one of the state tournament and then eliminated Belgreen 9-5 Saturday night.

The Belgreen Lady Bulldogs picked up two wins to give them a fourth-place finish in the Class 1A state tournament. Belgreen beat Verbena 12-0 and Kinston 8-6.

Game one against Brantley was a pitchers’ duel. Belgreen’s Emma Dempsey was sharp in the circle, allowing four hits and no earned runs and striking out seven batters. Brantley’s only run would come off an error.

Belgreen put together three hits and couldn’t get a runner across the plate. Kaycee Wilson was the bright spot for Belgreen at the plate, garnering two of the team’s three hits.

Dempsey was at it again in game two against Verbena, pitching a one-hitter in the 12-0 shutout. She also recorded five strikeouts.

Belgreen found its groove at the plate against Verbena, racking up 11 hits. Verbena also committed three errors.
Katie Dempsey had two hits and two RBIs and scored two runs at the plate for the Bulldogs. Autumn Bragwell had two hits, including a double, and three RBIs, and she scored a run. Gracie Dempsey had two hits and an RBI and scored two runs.

In game three, Belgreen had to hold off a Kinston rally to get an 8-6 win and advance to the final four. Belgreen built a six-run lead in the second inning and held Kinston down the stretch for the win.

There were 27 hits in the game, with Belgreen piling up 16 of them. Five Bulldogs had multi-hit games: Sydney Borden, Jaelyn Johnson and Gracie Dempsey had three hits each, and Katie Dempsey and Camie Terrell had two hits each. Katie Dempsey also had two runs and two RBIs.

Belgreen met up with Brantley again in the elimination bracket as two of the final four teams remaining in the tournament – along with Spring Garden and Mars Hill. Once again, Brantley came out on top. The bats were not nearly as silent as they were when the two teams met in game one. Brantley had 13 hits, and Belgreen had 11 hits; Brantley outscored Belgreen 9-5 for the win.

Belgreen scored first in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, but Brantley took the lead in the top of the third 3-1 and added two more in the top of the fifth to take a 5-1 lead. Belgreen scored three in the bottom of the fifth to cut Brantley’s lead to 5-4, but Brantley put the game away with four runs in the top of the sixth.

Katie Dempsey had two hits, a double and triple, and scored two runs. Kaycee Wilson had two hits and two RBIs and scored a run. Terrell had two hits and scored two runs.