The 2026 Georgia high school softball season officially began on August 1 and will culminate with the playoffs running from October 28-31 at the South Commons Softball Complex in Columbus, Ga.

Line Drive Media contributor Steve Hickey tracks the prep fastpitch journey in the Peach State for the seven public divisions (1A through 7A) and the one private division.

This is Week 9 of what will be a baker’s dozen of articles throughout the season to provide highlights and spotlights for journey in Georgia to crown its champions.

• Click HERE for Week 1’s report
• Click HERE for Week 2’s report
• Click HERE for Week 3’s report
• Click HERE for Week 4’s report
• Click HERE for Week 5’s report
• Click HERE for Week 6’s report
• Click HERE for Week 7’s report
• Click HERE for Week 8’s report

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It’s Showtime!

It is time.  We are on our way. 

The regular season concluded on Thursday, and each region was responsible for establishing their own rules to award their champion, either using regular season results or through a playoff, and all results were due to the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) for final Post Season Ranking calculations. 

Brackets have been finalized and the field is set. The first and second rounds will be hosted by the higher seed in a Best of 3 format. 

The GHSA has gone back and forth over the years tinkering on the first-round format, trying out the four-team double elimination bracket similar to college regionals but it appears they have settled on the Best 2 of 3, so here we go. 

These series started on Monday, most of them were doubleheaders, and will come back today for the “If” game if necessary. 

To best utilize a limited number of umpire crews, the remaining scheduled series will get going on Wednesday, with their respective “If” games on Thursday. 

With the results of Hurricane Isaias having completed its run through the Southeast over the weekend, weather looks perfect across the Peach State, and everything is locked and loaded for three weeks of ideal conditions for a run to Columbus. 

We will detail in greater detail the double elimination format of the Elite 8 when they punch through to South Commons but, now it’s a brand-new season and all 256 teams now reset their goals to hear the civil defense siren in Columbus at noon on Halloween, Saturday, October 31^st. 

Obviously, lake season has already started for much of Georgia, and for much of the 256, they do not present real threats to make the final 64. 

However, this is the reason they play the game—on any given day, a great pitcher, an untimely error, and clutch hits can swing a ball game so there will be plenty of fireworks over the next three weeks, and we could not be more excited! 

The playoff brackets are linked below.  Have fun looking at these current and future matchups: 

• 7A Playoffs
• 6A Playoffs
• 5A Playoffs
• 4A Playoffs
• 3A Playoffs
• 2A Playoffs
• 1A Playoffs
• Private Playoffs

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3 Things I Learned This Week

To be the best, you gotta beat the best. 

This week’s feature game was 7A contender Harrison at 6A defending champion Creekview. 

Harrison has been biting at Buford’s heels all season long but had not been able to catch the defending champion all season. 

It was an extraordinary evening in North Georgia as the tension was electric as these two powerhouses squared off.  Unfortunately, the visiting Hoyas could not get started, catch their breath and get settled. 

Creekview’s 2029 Lily DiGregorio hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the 1^st inning, and the Grizzlies were running downhill for the rest of the game to win 10-2. 

Both of these teams will make a lot of noise on their way down to Columbus, and the build-up to this game will serve players and coaches well, but the game on the field was not competitive. 

It is always part of the discussion – is the playoff format appropriately set up? 

It’s a hard question to fully answer all the parts of the format because the breadth of the state is so large, there are so many teams, the playoffs last three weeks, and because of the types of schools there are: big schools, small schools, public and private.

There is no doubt that the GHSA has the final part of the playoff format dialed in almost perfectly.  They added an extra day into that format a few years ago to include flexibility in case of weather over those days in late October. 

However, the early rounds, and how to include which teams for inclusion is definitely open for discussion. 

Using the eight region champions as the only guarantee for inclusion, and then using the “Post Season Ranking” or PSR for the remaining 24 slots… the question remains: is this the right way to rank the playoffs? 

It seems so. 

There are certain regions of death that obviously have better teams than other regions, but the only way to offset those regions from being penalized is to make it so the weaker regions have harder out-of-region scheduling, but that simply is not the case. 

The PSR tries to balance the results accordingly at this point of the season so that with one more day in the sun it is win or go home. 

By this point in the season, the dugout life, the culture and the team sisterhood is the only reason left to play. 

The recruiting window has passed, and also all the energies and distractions have passed. 

What will be determined over the next few weeks is that—when faced with hardship and adversity—does the team have an indomitable will to persevere? 

Championship teams are not perfect, they just know how to dance in the rain.  They lock elbows, exercise resiliency, and find a way.  As the days get shorter, the innings seem to get longer, and the pressure builds. 

Who is ready for what comes on the Road to Columbus?  I don’t know… I have some ideas, but we shall see! 

The format of these series will also highlight golden arms, playing under the lights, and how teams respond to adversity. 

In prior years, of the 134 first round games, approximately 80 percent of them were sweeps.  Last year’s results also demonstrated the better seed and home team prevailed in over 75 percent of these series.  

The real chaos begins in the second round and that’s what we’ll look at next week…

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Here’s a class by class look at the matchups for Week 1 of the playoffs…

Class 7A

• Buford takes the top spot with an opening round against Rockdale.
• Harrison secured the No. 2 seed and will host Parkview.
• Brookwood is the No. 3 seed and hosts South Forsyth.
• Northgate is the No. 4 seed and hosts Newton.
• Archer is the No. 5 seed and hosts Collins Hill.
• East Coweta closes strong and secures the No. 6 seed and hosts Peachtree Ridge.
• Cherokee is the No. 7 seed and hosts Lowndes.
• Richmond Hill is the No. 8 seed and hosts Etowah.
• Dacula just misses a super seed at #9 and hosts Paulding County. Looking forward to the second-round match there.

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Class 6A

• South Effingham clinched the No. 1 seed and will host against Greenbrier. 
• Lee County is the No. 2 seed and hosts Milton. 
• Lassiter is the No. 3 seed and will host Alexander. Lassiter is a dangerous team to watch to South Commons. 
• Defending classification champion Creekview is No. 4 seed and will host Sequoyah. 
• Loganville is the No. 5 seed and will host Grovetown. 
• Glynn Academy secured the No. 6 seed and hosts McIntosh. 
• Pope is the No. 7 seed and hosts Chamblee. 
• Houston County has the No. 8 seed and will host East Paulding. 

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Class 5A

• Harris County, last year’s runner up and champion from two years ago, holds the top PSR ranking and hosts Mundys Mill.
• Cartersville has the No. 2 spot hosting Ware County.
• Wayne County has the No. 3 seed and will host Jackson.
• Cambridge received the No. 4 seed and hosts Allatoona.
• Central Carollton has the No. 5 seed and will host Mays.
• North Oconee has the No. 6 seed and will host Union Grove.
• Eastside, the defending classification champion, earned the No. 7 seed and will host East Forsyth.
• Starr’s Mill has the No. 8 seed and will host LaGrange.

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Class 4A

• Long County has the No. 1 seed and hosts Spalding.
• West Laurens has the No. 2 seed and hosts Hardaway.
• Cherokee Bluff captured the No. 3 seed and hosts East Jackson.
• Monroe Area has the No. 4 seed, and hosts Sandy Creek.
• Heritage – Catoosa has the No. 5 seed and hosts NW Whitfield.
• Columbus has the No. 6 seed and hosts Calhoun.
• Ridgeland has the No. 7 seed and hosts White County.
• Pickens has the No. 8 seed and hosts Dawson County.

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Class 3A

• Appling County has the No. 1 seed and hosts Thomson.
• Worth County has the No. 2 seed and will host Crisp County.
• Rockmart has the No. 3 seed and will host North Murray.
• Sonoraville has the No. 4 seed and will host Union County.
• Toombs County has the No. 5 seed and will host Ringold.
• Pike County has the No. 6 seed and hosts Tattnall County.
• Pierce County has the No. 7 seed and hosts Franklin County.
• Lamar County has the No. 8 seed and hosts Lamar County.

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Class 2A

• Banks County captured the No. 1 seed and will host Washington.
• Bacon County has the No. 2 seed and hosts Brooks County.
• Cook has the No. 3 seed and hosts Dodge County.
• Gordon Lee has the No. 4 seed and will host Fitzgerald.
• Armuchee has the No. 5 seed and will host Chattooga.
• Berrien is the No. 6 seed and hosts Bryan County.
• Vidalia has the No. 7 seed and will host Rabun County.
• Dade County has the No. 8 seed and will host Jefferson County.

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Class 1A

• Wheeler closed the regular season on a heater and seized the No. 1 spot to host Marion County.
• Irwin County has the No. 2 seed and will host Pelham.
• C.I has the No. 3 seed and will host Manchester.
• Schley County has the No. 4 seed and will host Portal.
• Lanier County, this classification’s defending state champion, has the No. 5 seed and will host G.I.S.C.
• GA Military Academy has the No. 6 seed and will host Glascock County.
• Trion has the No. 7 seed and will host Atkinson County.
• Telfair County has the No. 8 seed and will host Hawkinsville.

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Private

• There are exactly 24 teams in the Private classification (opposed to up to 32 in the other classifications), so the importance of a Top 8 super seed is even more pronounced as these eight teams get a bye in the first round.  
• Prince Avenue finished what it started ,and it captured the No. 1 seed. It will host the winner of the Eagles Landing/St Vincents matchup in the second round.
• Pace Academy is the No. 2 seed and will host the winner of the Galloway/ Holy Innocents matchup.
• North Cobb Christian is the No. 3 seed and will host the winner of the Lovett/Christian Heritage matchup.
• Hebron Christian finished No. 4 and will host the winner of Greater Atlanta Christian and Landmark Christian.
• Providence Christian is the No. 5 seed and will host the winner of Sannah Christian and St. Francis.
• Mount Paran took the No. 6 seed and will host the winner of Westminster and Darlington.
• Mount Vernon secured the No. 7 seed and will host the winner of Calvary Day and Trinity Christian.
• Wesleyan, the five-time defending state champion, is the No. 8^th seed and will host Walker or Whitefield.

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Steve’s Take 

*** After nine weeks, the summer of anticipation, the heat of August and September, tough schedules, easy schedules, recruiting, injuries, and epic moments, it is finally here. 

Everything has come together, and the maps are rolled out. 

Parents are asking” “Who and where is that high school?” and are crowding onto the Gamechanger for their opponent’s feed. 

Matchups are key, and this week will shake out a great slate of second-round series. 

— Steve Hickey/Line Drive Contributor