By Angie Ledbetter

It was an emotional night for the No. 4-ranked South Panola Lady Tigers (15-2 overall, 3-1 district) slow pitch team as they honored six seniors after downing J. Z. George from Carrolton  12-3 in the last regular season home game Tuesday at home.

The Lady Tigers ended the game with 19 hits and left seven on base while J. Z. George recorded nine hits and left 10 on base.

J. Z. George started the game with two hits but left both on base as the Lady Tiger’s defense flexed its muscle. In the bottom of the frame, Lady Tigers scored two runs when lead off batter center fielder Christa Brown doubled.

With two outs on the board, right fielder Danielle Townsend hit a double driving Brown home. Designated hitter Crystal Contreras singled to advance Townsend to third. First baseman Emily Smith hit a single scoring Townsend. The Lady Tigers led 2-0 in the bottom of the inning.

The Lady Tigers added three runs to take a 5-0 lead in bottom of the second with Olivia Taylor, Smith and Christa Brown scoring. In bottom of the third, two runs were added when Smith and Marla Rudd scored.

Ivy and Morgan scored runs in bottom of the fourth to give the Lady Tigers a 9-0 lead.

In the top of the sixth, Greenville scored two runs when Miller and Frenesha both doubled and later scored.

The Lady Tigers answered with two runs in the bottom of the frame with Ivy and Fortune scoring. Greenville scored one run in the top of the seventh when Stanford doubled and later scored.

Lady Tiger head coach Kim Wilson congratulated the team on the win.

“You hit pretty good today but some of you are still not getting good solid routes but you’re hitting. You understand that the end of this game kind of gives you an idea what can happen when you let somebody linger around. I’m proud of the hits today.”

The run-mercy rule was not enforced because both coaches did not agree before the game so all seven innings had to be played.

“I knew it was a rule all the time so I didn’t mention it with the Greenville coach before the game,” Wilson said. “All the games we’ve played it has been spoken so no one ever said a word. So that was a misunderstanding so we played the whole game out.”

Wilson said J. Z. George’s pitcher pitched like Lady Tiger Dorian Winfield.

“That helped because they were so used to hitting out here with her,” Wilson said. “The girls noticed that while she was warming up. I’m real proud of the fact that they didn’t let something different mess them up. Taking notice in warm-ups is important because we’re about to go up against teams next week that we haven’t seen all year.”

The Lady Tigers will finish their regular season game on the road Tuesday when they go to Cleveland East side at 5 p.m.

The playoffs start Tuesday, October 5. The Lady Tigers will travel to Tupelo for the best two out of three. All three games will be played Tuesday.