LOVEJOY — Lowndes High’s softball team is going back to Columbus.

Sarah Santana’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh gave Lowndes a 3-2 victory over Houston County Saturday at the South sectional tournament, and earned LHS a berth in the state finals next weekend in Columbus.

Three of the eight teams heading to Columbus will be from Region 1-AAAAA. Like Lowndes, Warner Robins made it unbeaten through the winner’s bracket, while Tift County earned the final berth by defeating Houston.

The Lady Bears, who won the region tournament last weekend at Freedom Park, took a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second. But the Vikettes came right back in the bottom of the third. Santana led off with a single, then Dionne Bishop blasted a two-run homer to tie the score.

The score remained 2-2 until the bottom of the seventh, when Santana’s heroics won the game for Lowndes (21-14).

Santana was 3-for-4 with two runs Saturday. Lauren Revels (18-12) pitched a complete game, giving up nine hits and striking out four.

Lowndes reached Saturday’s final by winning its first two games Friday.

The Vikettes opened the tournament with a 6-2 victory over Jenkins. Revels pitched a complete game, holding the Lady Warriors to three hits and one earned run, striking out four. Revels also had two hits and drove in a run. Brittany Corbitt had a two-run single, and Santana scored two runs for Lowndes.

Lowndes then hammered Newton 14-1 in five innings in its second game. Morgan Harris went 2-for-3 with a grand slam, a double and six RBIs.

Revels allowed just one hit and struck out two. At the plate, she was 2-for-2 with three RBIs. Corbitt was 3-for-4 with two RBI. Dionne Bishop was 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Kristin Broadway had two hits and scored three runs. The Vikettes pounded out 17 hits in the rout.