PRINCE GEORGE—The best two teams will play for the Central Region softball championship.

Lee-Davis defeated Cosby 3-0 at Prince George High School last night, and defending region champion Prince George edged Patrick Henry 1-0 after a downpour necessitated a change of venue.

Lee-Davis, 23-1 and winner of 22 consecutive games since a loss to Prince George in the second game of the season, and PG (21-2) meet tonight at Prince George. The game time could be moved up from 7 to 6 p.m. to beat the possibility of more inclement weather.

“I can get the field ready if it doesn’t rain,” Prince George coach Pat Waguespack said.

The Royals and Patriots (18-3) had played an inning when a thunderstorm struck and left huge puddles on the field. The game was moved to Moore Recreation Center about 15 minutes south of the school. There had been no rain there.

PG’s Lauren Vinson and PH’s Emma Mitchell were engaged in a pitcher’s duel when Katie Christopher belted an outside pitch from Mitchell over the head of Patriot right-fielder Allison Tingler.

Christopher ran to third and was being told to stop when the relay throw was mishandled.

Waguespack waved Christopher home for the winning run.

“I was surprised I hit the ball that hard and surprised I got around the bases,” said Christopher, who was looking for the outside pitch.

Waguespack knew it would take a break like that to win the game with Vinson (10 strikeouts) and Mitchell pitching so well.

Lee-Davis advanced with its second victory over Cosby this season. The temperature was 35 degrees warmer yesterday, and Lee-Davis pitcher Kelly Heinz wasn’t dealing with an upset stomach.

Cosby (20-4) is one of the best hitting teams in the region, but Heinz, the region pitcher of the year, allowed only five base runners. She gave up three hits, two to region player of the year Heather Sink, and walked two batters. She struck out nine.

“We set a lot of goals before the game, like good defense behind Kelly [Heinz] and keeping them off base,”

Lee-Davis coach Jackie Davis said. “With the exception of one inning, we did what we needed to do.”

Lee-Davis manufactured a run in the third inning on a bunt single by freshman catcher Haleigh Cottrell. She moved up on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch by Titans’ hurler Kelly Higbie.

The Confederates scored two insurance runs in the top of the seventh. After an out, Rachel Houff singled and Cottrell followed with another single to send Houff to third. Houff scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by Lacie Madison, and Amanda Parker followed with an RBI single for the third run.

The Confederates are in the region final for the first time since 2005 when they won the title. L-D and Prince George also earned berths in the state Group AAA tournament quarterfinals Tuesday against either Ocean Lakes or Hickory from the Eastern Region.

Arthur Utley is a staff writer for the Richmond Times Dispatch.

Lee-Davis…................001 000 2 — 3 9 0
Cosby…......................000 000 0 — 0 3 1
Heinz and Cottrell; Higbie and Hall.

Patrick Henry….......... 000 000 0 – 0 3 2
Prince George ...........000 010 x — 1 2 0
Mitchell and Gilman; Vinson and Landreth.