Softball teams across the state will begin winding down their regular seasons this week as the weekend marks the beginning of the area tournaments.

White Plains will do so with a little momentum on its side.

The Lady Wildcats won all four of its games in the Spring Break Classic at Woodland Park to take its first tournament title of the season.

White Plains beat Cedar Bluff 5-2 and Collinsville 13-0 in pool play. In the semifinal game, White Plains edged area-rival Pleasant Valley 4-3 before easily taking care of Randolph County 15-0 in the final.

Against Pleasant Valley, the Lady Raiders choose to issue a free pass to White Plains’ slugger Jordan Coleman each time she came to bat. The strategy backfired as Kiley Ponder slugged two doubles accounting for all the RBIs in the win.

The win over Pleasant Valley was the Lady Wildcats’ second in three meetings, but will not count in the area race, which is coming to a conclusion this week.

The tournament will be next Tuesday and Wednesday, but the location will not be determined until the area has a clear-cut champion.

Whatever happens, it safe to say White Plains is in better shape than it started the season. The Lady Wildcats are currently 18-8, with three of its eight losses coming in its first four games.

“We have a lot of young girls,” said Rachel Ford, noting five players in the seventh, eighth and ninth grade. “They had to get used to my coaching and my high-level of expectations.

“They’ve really grown up a lot.”

Pleasant Valley

In that same tournament, Pleasant Valley went 2-2. Against Cedar Bluff and Piedmont, the Lady Raiders won 15-0 and 3-0, respectively.

They lost to Collinsville to set up the pairing with White Plains in the semifinals.

Pleasant Valley has two area games remaining with Glencoe and Weaver. A first-place tie for the right to host the area tournament is not out of the question.

, and the Lady Raiders would need to beat Glencoe to do that.

In their first meeting, Glencoe won 7-0.

Jacksonville Christian

The Thunder wraps up the regular season this week with four games in four days, all concluding with a doubleheader against Collinsville.

The regular-season area title is already wrapped up, going to Ragland which is ranked third in the state.