By Brad Greer

It has been a little over a month since South Panola ended its high school baseball season, but the Tigers are still hard at work as they opened a 16-game summer league schedule Thursday afternoon when the Tigers hosted Grenada in a doubleheader.

The first game ended in a 3-3 tie, but the Tigers came roaring back to take a 5-1 victory in the second game

South Panola will be back in action today as they travel to Olive Branch for a twinbill starting at 5 p.m. then will return home tomorrow to square off against Lafayette County starting a 4 p.m.

Junior-to-be Chris Townsend gave up one hit in three solid innings of work on the mound as the Tigers scored three runs in the second inning of the nightcap. The game was called in the bottom of the fourth due to the hour-and-a-half time limit. Luke Latham worked a scoreless fourth inning in relief of Townsend.

Deon Mix got the second inning rally started with a leadoff single. Chance Whitten then blasted a double to put runners on second and third with no outs. Will Dickins then reached on an error that drove in Mix for the game’s first run. One batter later, DeShawn Lindsey’s RBI groundout scored Whitten from third to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. Dickins made the score 3-0 on a delayed steal of home later in the inning.

South Panola added an unearned run in the bottom of the third as Will Daugherty led off the inning by reaching on an error and later scored to push the lead to 4-1.The Tigers final run came in the fourth as Dickins started the inning with a walk and scored on a wild pitch.

The Tigers collected five hits in the contest as Townsend added a triple while Bobby Epps, Mix and Scotty Daugherty all recorded singles.

In the first game, South Panola knotted the score at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth on Taylor Meek’s RBI single that scored Lee Self from second. The Tigers had a chance to win the game  in the bottom of the seventh as Epps led off the inning with a bunt single then advanced to third on a wild pitch and a stolen base, but was stranded there when Will Daugherty grounded back to the pitcher for out number three to end the game.

 Colby Gammill gave up one earned run on five hits in four innings of work on the mound for the Tigers while Andrew Horne worked the final three innings in relief, giving up one run on one hit while striking out one along the way.

  Horne tripled and singled to lead South Panola at the plate. Townsend, Self, Meek and Epps all registered singles.