BUFORD, Ga. — The Eastside Lady Eagles fell one game short of completing an undefeated regular season as the team fell on Thursday.

The defeat came at the hands of the hosting Buford Lady Wolves, who also entered the game undefeated and extended that streak to 28-0.

For Eastside, the record sits at 24-1 as the team prepares to host Warner Robins in the opening round of the Class AAAA playoffs.

Before that matchup, Eastside faced perhaps its toughest test of the season on the road.

Caroline Stanton took the mound for the Lady Wolves and pitched a gem as Florida-commit completed her seven inning performance with zero runs allowed and 13 strikeouts.

Stanton was opposed by senior Kylee Lawrence, who pitched five innings and allowed Buford’s five runs. The Memphis-commit managed to strikeout four Lady Wolves’ batters in the loss.

“I am proud of them. I think they were competitive throughout the entire game,” said head coach Heather Wood. “Kylee Lawrence had a great performance in the circle and Eva [Davis] came in and did her job as well. We had opportunities early on. The score could have been closer, we just had mishaps on defense. In the big picture of things, that[Stanton] is one of the best pitchers in the country and we are not going to see anyone better than that going forward.

“She is one of the best and we knew that coming in. I wish we would have done a better job of attacking early because once she gets ahead, with her movement and velocity, she is a tough one to hit.”

Buford put runs on the board in both the second and third innings before a three-run fifth put the game away.

After a solo home run from Addie Rackley, Stanton delivered with an RBI double that put the fifth and final run on the board.

Even with the team’s first loss of the year, Wood spoke after the game how she believes it can provide the Lady Eagles with a little extra motivation ahead of their playoff run.

“These moments help us see what we need to improve on,” Wood said. “Even though it is a loss, and it's always tough losing, [but] I think it is important to lose before we go into the postseason and if we advance to Columbus. I think it's important to do that and see how the team responds."

The high number of strikeouts were something Eastside was not accustomed to in 2025, but the top of the lineup still managed to come through with base hits.

Donee Morain, Ansley Hartman and Eva Davis all came away with the team’s only hits from Thursday.

The 24-1 finish to the regular season is a slight improvement on the team’s record from a year ago at the same point, but the aspirations for the team come in the following weeks.

First, the Lady Eagles will have to take down Warner Robins at home in a three game series to begin the postseason.

The Lady Demons finished the regular season with a 10-17 record in which they finished fourth in Region 1-AAAA(0-6).

Warner Robins and its 3-7 road record will travel to Eastside, where the Lady Eagles are 12-0 on their home diamond.

With a few days off, Wood hopes the battle with Buford will only make her team sharper as they officially begin their road to Columbus on Monday, Oct. 13.

“I think it was a great experience overall and we needed it,” Wood said. “We needed a good test and we needed this environment.”