By Brad Greer
What was suppose to be a routine day of baseball turned into an adventure for the South Panola Tigers Saturday afternoon in the Lake Cormorant Jamboree.

South Panola and the host Gators battled to a 3-3 tie in the first game as senior Mitchel Babb and sophomore Will Daughtery pitched two innings each of the four-inning contest. Babb struck out four while walking two batters and did not allow a hit. Daughtery meanwhile surrendered four hits while fanning two.

Lee Self and Taylor Meek  doubled to lead the Tigers at the plate. Daughtery, JW Willis, and Bobby Epps all registered singles in the contest.

A scary moment occurred during the game as South Panola shortstop Chris Townsend and Meek collided together in left field. Meek suffered a broken rib and punctured lung on the play and was taken to a local hospital where he was treated and released Monday morning.

In the nightcap, South Panola fell to Desoto Central 8-2 in another four inning contest. The Jaguars roughed up Tiger starting pitcher Lee Self to the tune a five runs (two unearned) and four hits in one plus innings of work.

Hunter Durham pitched two scoreless innings of relief work while sophomore Chance Whitten gave up a pair of runs in one-third of an inning. Tays Hardy closed out the game by  surrendering a unearned run in two-thirds of an inning.

Babb, Durham and Andrew Horne singled for the Tigers while Self and Scotty Daughtery drove in runs.

“We played  well in the first game until Taylor got hurt and that really affected the kids  mentally the rest of the day. It was tough to get them back in the right frame of mind to go out and play that second game after seeing one of their teammates get hurt like that,” said Tiger head coach Patrick Robey.

South Panola will open the season Friday on the road at Desoto Central beginning at 4 p.m. with the junior varsity contest followed at 6 p.m. by the varsity. The Tigers home-opener will be  Saturday at 1 p.m. against Charleston in the Wes Smythe Classic.