By Brad Greer

  The South Panola slowpitch softball teams’ quest  for their  first ever state championship came to an end with a 6-0 loss to Brandon in the deciding game of a best-of-three series Wednesday afternoon at Tiger Park.

Brandon (26-5) played Grenada Thursday with the winner taking on George County tomorrow in Jackson for the Class 6A state title.

After Brandon took a 12-1 victory over South Panola in game one of the series that was played Tuesday morning, the Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second game before a day-long rain finally forced the suspension of the game in the second inning.

When play was resumed Wednesday, the Tiger bats went cold as Brandon pitcher Susan Easterling retired 18 of the last 20 batters in the game. South Panola got all the runs it needed in the top of the first inning by scoring all five runs on five hits.

Christa Brown, Amanda Ivy, and Meri Morgan Fortune singled to load the bases before Paige Jordan drilled a two-run double that plated Brown and Ivy. After Danielle Townsend and Chresha Brown reached on a pair of errors, Mary Beth Hays slapped a RBI single up the middle to drive in Townsend for the final run. Christa Brown picked up the win in the pitchers’ circle.

In the third game, Brandon scored four runs in the top of the first on a two-run single by Katie Caldwell followed by Mickey Peters two-run homerun. The Bulldogs added two more runs in the sixth on a two-out, two-run single by Mary Beth Joyner.

South Panola registered five hits in the game as Marissa McDaniel led the way with a pair of singles followed by singles by Christa Brown, Ivy and Jordan.