LAURINBURG — And then there was one.
No. 8 Jack Britt will play for the NCHSAA 4A state softball championship this week, after being crowned the Eastern Regional champions on Friday.
The Lady Buccaneers are the final team from the Sandhills Athletic Conference still playing, after No. 1 Richmond was bumped from the Western Regional finals in two games by No. 2 South Caldwell.
The Lady Raiders lost game one in Rockingham, 2-0 before traveling to South Caldwell and falling 10-9 to end their season.
Jack Britt jumped out to a one-game lead in their best-of-three series against No. 2 South Central. The Lady Buccaneers picked up a 7-3 win on the road before punching their ticket to the 4A state champion on Friday with a 5-1 victory in Hope Mills.
Starting pitcher Carlie Myrtle, a freshman who has verbally committed to North Carolina, gave up six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
Jack Britt jumped out to an early lead with back-to-back doubles by Savannah Roddey and Myrtle. The Lady Buccaneers took a 2-0 lead on a base-hit from Rayven Shepard.
The 4A state championship series begins June 1 at 5 p.m. at Dial Softball Stadium on the campus of N.C. State university in Raleigh.
South Caldwell will be the home team for Game 1, while the Lady Buccaneers will be the home team for Game 2 on June 2 at 11 a.m. If a Game 3 is needed, it will be played at 5 p.m. with South Caldwell as the home team.
The 1A state softball championship will also be held at Dial Stadium with No. 2 Louisburg taking on the winner of No. 3 Alleghany vs. No. 4 South Stanly. Those games will be played at 7:30 p.m. on June 1 and 2 p.m. on June 2 for Game 2 and 8 p.m. for Game 3.
The 2A and 3A state softball championships will be held at UNC-Greensboro Softball Stadium on Friday and Saturday. In the 2A championship, No. 1 South Granville will take on No. 2 Franklin. In the 3A championships No. 5 Cleveland will face off against No. 3 Alexander Central.
The NFHS Network will be providing live streaming video of all four championship sites. No live video streaming, Periscope, Facebook Live, Youtube or any other form of social media video streaming will be permitted.
Amber Hatten-Staley can be reached at 910-506-3170 or ahatten@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com.
