The No. 8 Lady Blue Devils (18-5) scored three runs in the first and a pair in the second, but a nine-run third helped put the game away.
"We played well. We didn't make any errors, pitched well. [Jacquelyn Hightower] had a little hard time starting off, but that's the nature of the beast sometimes. Hit the ball hard, adjusted to it and sat back on it," Bremen coach Amy Pointer said.
Summer Wallace led the Bremen attack with three hits, including a triple, three runs scored and three RBI on the night. Korra Jaglinski, Maddie Gregory and Hightower each had two-hit performances in the win.
Hightower also got the win in the circle, giving up just two hits and striking out seven in four innings of work.
On Senior Night, Bremen honored Hightower, Gregory, Morgan Tucker and Kayleigh Medlin, who have been a big part of Pointer's team over the past few seasons.
"Those kids have been with me for a long time," Pointer said. "Leadership, experience, the know-how, knowing I can go to them in times when it's crucial is worth its weight in gold. They will be incredibly missed. They have tremendous leadership ability and they've passed that down. They have a little legacy they're leaving."
With the win the Lady Blue Devils get a second shot at No. 3 Heard County in the noon Region 5-AA semifinal at Bowdon on Saturday. There will be a little revenge on the Bremen minds after the Lady Braves took the regular season game, 9-0.
"Payback. Hopefully, [we can] prove the first one was not us. We didn't play well that day — played awful, in fact. We have to be Bremen Saturday. No room for error. We have to hit and we've got to play great defense and pitching has to be on. I would love to play Bowdon for one [seed]. The chance to host sectionals here would be good for the team, good for the community and the school. I want to win," Pointer said. "I'm not ready for them to go."
Manchester 12, Temple 7: The Lady Tigers' season came to a close Thursday night, as they dropped the Region 5-AA play-in game in Bremen.
Temple (5-14) came out strong and scored a pair of runs in the first inning, but Manchester (10-17) fought back and took the 3-2 lead in the top of the second. Kacey Ray tied things up at 3-all with an RBI triple in the bottom of the second, but it was all Lady Blue Devils from there.
Manchester scored nine unanswered runs to take a 12-3 lead into the seventh inning. Temple would get four runs back to make it a five-run game, but couldn't get any closer.
Dru Groves led the Lady Tigers offense with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate with a double, RBI and run scored. Ray and Tiffany Woody also had two-hit performances in the loss.
It was the final games for Groves, Woody, Ray and Erin Acree, who helped take Temple to the Class AA state playoffs in 2010 and 2011.
"This group is special. I've had them for three years and they've been the keystone for where we are as a softball program. Allie [Acree] and them they laid the groundwork, this group continued it. We have a good group of juniors coming back, too, that we're expecting big things out of next year. We're just going to go back to work and try to get better," Temple coach Larry Weaver said.
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