When things go south, they go south — or, in this case, east.

In arguably the worst day in Conyers prep sports this school year, all three local high schools were eliminated from the regional softball tournament on Wednesday. Heritage dropped both of its games at Madison County, and Rockdale and Salem dropped both of their loser’s bracket games in Loganville.

“It did not go well,” said Heritage coach Dickie Hightower. “All three of the Conyers teams are out of it.”

Heritage, who won its game and the early portion of the bracket the Lady Patriots hosted on Tuesday, lost both of its games today at Madison County. They dropped a 9-2 decision to Madison County, the second-ranked team in the state now sporting a 23-1 record, in the Lady Pats first game. Down 3-0 in the third inning, Liz Forrester and Rose Bish both drove in runs to pull within 3-2. But Madison County dropped a six spot on the Pats in the sixth inning, dropping Heritage into the loser’s bracket. A disheartened Lady Patriots bunch lost their next game 5-0 to Apalachee.

“(Madison County) is better than we are and it showed in that sixth inning of the 9-2 game,” Hightower said. “We were never really in the game (against Apalachee). But I am proud of how the girls played even though we really had a tough road to hoe.”

The Rockdale County Lady Bulldogs saw their season come to an end due to back-to-back losses in the double-elimination tourney. Tuesday the Lady Dogs faced off against the Habersham Raiders and were defeated 2-1. Although the defense for Rockdale was solid, the girls failed to capitalize on offense, getting just one hit.

On Wednesday, Winder-Barrow skated by the Lady Dogs on a bottom of the eighth, walk-off homerun by Shelby Reed.

“I’ve been out on a knee injury, and I haven’t hit one all year, so I feel really accomplished,” Reed, who also netted Winder’s only riun in its loss to Heritage on Tuesday.

First-year Rockdale coach Justin Arrington is now forced to look toward next year after a season that certainly had its share of ups and downs.

“The girls get so flustered, they need to realize things work themselves out,” Arrignton said.

Salem, who lost a 1-0 game to Winder on Tuesday after putting up just two hits, also lost its second game. The Lady Seminoles dropped a 3-0 contest to Apalachee on Wednesday

“To play in the state tourney you have to be a little better than we did,” said Hightower, who could have been speaking about any of the Conyers teams after Wednesdays regionals. “It would have been nice to win, but I’m not sure we would have made a real dent.”