Lady Devils await the arrival home of Ella Bruce, who is rounding third on her fifth inning grand slam that turned a 3-1 Tift deficit into a 5-3 lead. They'd win by that same score.

TIFTON — Ella Bruce rocketed a grand slam in the bottom of the fifth frame Tuesday afternoon and Tift County turned back a ghost that had followed them for nearly a decade.

The Lady Devils (7-2) opened the Region 1-6A portion of the season with a 5-3 victory over Lowndes (5-4), the first time they won over the Vikettes in Tifton since 2015.

“Timely hitting, timely pitching,” said Tift head coach Jen Walls.

Shifting regions meant Tift and Lowndes had not seen each other since 2022, thus the last win for the locals in the series was back in 2021. The Lady Devils had only won three times out of 20 between 2016-22, all of them, amazingly, in Valdosta.

“They’re a tough ballclub,” said Walls about Lowndes, highlighting half the Vikettes’ roster.

Middle innings magic struck again. All five of Tift’s runs came in the bottom of the fifth, a rally that began with a play that still amazed Walls after the contest. Stella Bryant hit a comebacker to the circle and beat the throw to first base.

Bryant got into scoring position with a stolen base, scoring on a Riley Williams double that was centimeters from being an incredible diving catch. Hannah Grace Murphy earned no-out walk.

Neither runner could move up on a fly to left and though Lowndes walked Marlee Veazey to load the bases, it looked like they might escape on a pop to Lillian Moore at shortstop.

Madelyn Dailey quickly got Bruce to an 0-2 count, then Bruce sent a pitch to left that kept carrying and kept carrying before coming to its final resting place in the grass beyond the fence.

Tift now led 5-3 and it was a different feeling at the ballpark.

Morgan Brey walked and C.B. McCrary singled, but Emma Huxford fanned her last hitter to keep the lead where it was.

Lily Robinson grooved in the sixth. She singled in the bottom half, but Huxford fanned two.

The Vikettes put a scare into Tift with a two-out rally in the seventh that put runners on second and third on a Katie Huffmaster single and Addison Waring double. Tension eased, however, when catcher Braylin Dorden snagged a high pop in foul territory to end the contest.

Lowndes had control early, going ahead 2-0 before the Lady Devils had their first hit.

Back-to-back singles by Avery Jones and Moore opened the third, Huffmaster clearing both on double over third base. The Vikettes had two on and one out when McCrary caught a liner in center that turned into a double play on a throw back to second.

The advantage increased to 3-0 in the fifth, courtesy of an infield single and two-base error that put Gracie Williamson on third with none down. Morgan Causey’s sacrifice fly produced the run.

Tift hitters had seven hits on the day, two by Bryant. Bruce drove in four and Williams had the other RBI. In the circle, Robinson struck out seven while allowing eight hits. Two runs were earned.

Walls said there were still defensive things for the Lady Devils to work on, “but we played a full seven innings.”

Huffmaster had two hits for the Vikettes and two RBIs. Dailey fanned four and Huxford three.

Tift and Lowndes play a doubleheader Thursday in Valdosta.