By Angie Ledbetter

After losing the first game 15-4, the Lady Tigers slow pitch team battled in game two to take a 9-8 victory and force a game three in round two of the playoffs on Saturday.

The South Panola Lady Tigers hosted the second round of state playoffs on Saturday when Tupelo came to town.

It was a battle to the end, but the Lady Tigers came up short.

“Both of us were struggling to hit in the third game,” said Lady Tiger head coach Kim Wilson. “Everything goes to Tupelo for that first game. They were making plays on the defense but primarily, they were hitting. They crushed the ball. It’s hard to take that away from them. As a coach, you never know if your team is going to take a loss like the first one and pack it up and think that they had the rest of the Saturday off, thinking that Tupelo was going to win. But this team is fighters. That is what they proved today. I am so proud of them. They are a great group of girls and I am proud of everything they have done.”

Wilson has a young team and ends the season with a lot to work with for next season. “I am wonderspeed the calendar up. There are a lot of good things to look forward to if I can keep all of the girls intact and keep them all interested.”

Comparing this record to last year’s, Wilson said it was by far an improvement.

“The competitiveness is just a ton of improvement and the desire is off the charts. I had some last year that had the tendacy to quit on me when things got rough. This team doesn’t have any idea what that means. I’m not saying that last year’s team, it wasn’t there,” Wilson said.

“I really hate to lose these two seniors. I am going to miss them so bad,” Wilson said speaking of Sally Burdette and Jennifer Newcomb.

The first game was a very tough one. The Lady Golden Wave won 15-4 in five innings. They came out fighting in the first inning and scored four runs. The Lady Tigers battled back and scored three runs in the bottom of the first. Kelsay Hancock hit a double to start the action. Paige Jordan singled and Burdette followed with a walk, bringing in Hancock for the first run.  Meri Morgan Fortune singled bringing in Jordan for the second run. Amanda Ivy hit a single scoring Burdette for the third run to end the first inning.

The Lady Golden Wave scored five runs in the top of the second inning to put them up 8-3. The Lady Tigers scored only one run when Madison Taylor hit a single followed by Marissa McDaniel and Hancock hitting a single. Taylor came home when Jordan hit a single. The Tigers were down 8-4 at the end of the second inning.

The top of the third was the game winning difference. The Lady Golden Wave scored four runs before being stopped by the defense. They went up 12-4. The top of the fifth, the Lady Golden Wave scored only one run and the Lady Tigers were stopped to give the victory to the Lady Golden Wave 15-4 in five innings.

Wilson told her team after the first game that it was their time to prove what they could do. “Coaches can’t do it for you. They know they can get runs on you and it’s up to you to rattle them. It is not over!”

Taking all that in, the Lady Tigers came back fighting harder than ever in the second game winning it 9-8.

Hancock started by hitting a double and getting her team fired up. Burdette singled and Hancock advanced to third but Burdette got out before making it to first base. Meri Morgan singled bringing in Hancock for the only run in the first inning for the Lady Tigers. The Lady Golden Wave scored one run to tie the game going into the second inning.

The only scoring in the second was by the Lady Golden Wave. They scored one run putting them up 2-1.

The top of the third was a huge inning for the Lady Tigers. They scored seven runs to go up 8-2.  Scoring was Marissa McDaniel, Kelsay Hancock, Paige Jordan, Meri Morgan Fortune, Amanda Ivy, Christa Brown, Emily Smith, and Madison Taylor. Smith came in for Jennifer Newcomb.

The bottom of the third was great defensive playing by the Lady Tigers. The first batter singled. The second batter hit forcing the first batter out on a fielder’s choice when Hancock threw to Jordan at second for the first out. The third batter singled advancing the runner on first to second. The fourth batter popped up to Newcomb for the second out as she threw to Fortune at third.  The runner stepped off  the base and was tagged for the third out.

The Lady Tigers scored one run in the fourth when Burdette came in and the Lady Golden Wave answered with two runs making the score 9-5.

In the fifth, the Lady Golden Wave scored one run making the score 9-6 and in the sixth, they scored two runs making it 9-8 in favor of the Lady Tigers and going to a third game.

The third game was a battle due to both teams having problems hitting. The Lady Golden Wave scored one run in the top of the first and the Lady Tigers answered with one to tie the game when Hancock came in to score.

In the bottom of the second, Lady Tigers scored when Chelsea Austin came home giving them a 2-1 lead.

The Lady Golden Wave scored a run in top of third to tie the game at 2. In the top of the sixth, they scored another run to go up 3-2.

The championship game came down to the seventh inning and it went the lady Golden Wave’s direction. They came out hitting and scored four runs to win the game 6-2.