By Brad Greer

After playing the first eight games on the road, the South Panola slowpitch softball team opened the 2009 home slate with a 5-2 victory of Cleveland Tuesday afternoon in  the ‘ ROTC Community Service Day’ at Tiger Park.

Trailing  2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lady Tigers erupted for four runs on five hits to break open the game. Marissa McDaniel got the rally started  by drawing a one-out walk. Sisters Chresha and Christa Brown both singled to loaded the bases. Amanda Ivy then blooped a single into shallow left field that scored courtesy runner Marla Rudd to tie the game 2-2.

The inning continued as Danielle Townsend added her third hit of the game with a two-run single to score both Brown sisters. Meri Morgan Fortune followed with a RBI single up the middle that plated Ivy with the final run of the inning.

Cleveland  took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth on a unearned run as Mary Beth Cox led off the inning by reaching on an error then later scored Katie Porter’s two-out single. The  Wildcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on three singles.

South Panola, (7-2), answered back with a run of their own as Ivy drew a one-out walk and later scored on a two-out error. The Lady Tigers collected eight hits in the game as Chresha and Christa followed Townsend with singles. Ivy, Fortune and Paige Jordan also added singles.

South Panola took two of three games last weekend in the Grenada tournament. The Tigers defeated Starkville 12-3 and Cleveland 4-1 before falling   to the host Chargers 15-0 in three innings.

South Panola traveled to Independence Thursday and will open district play Tuesday at home against Grenada starting at 4 p.m.