By Brad Greer

Heading into last weekend’s Academy AA state softball tournament, not many teams had heard of the North Delta softball program.

Chances are they know now.

After losing their first-round game to Oak Forest, La. 7-0 Saturday morning, the Lady Green Wave bounced back to win four straight games before falling to defending state champion Leake 3-1 in the championship game Monday afternoon at Liberty Park in Flowood.

“I knew going into the tournament we had the second best team in the state behind Leake,” said North Delta head coach Damon Plummer. “Those young ladies showed they had a lot of fight in them after losing that first game. It is tough to battle back through the losers’ bracket but they showed what they are made of. I could not be more proud of them.”

The main cog to the Green Wave’s run to the title game was the pitching of Peyton Rico. The junior pitched all six games in a span of 48 hours. Rico gave up 17 runs while striking out 22 batters and walking only nine in 37 innings of work in the circle.

Following the loss to Oak Forest, North Delta defeated Silliman, La. 3-2, Columbia 2-1, Sylva Bay 6-1, and Canton 5-3 before facing Leake in the championship game.

Leake, which has won 70 games in a row, ended its season 34-0 after finishing last year with a perfect 36-0 record.

Bradi Beard, one of three seniors on the North Delta roster, led the Green Wave in hitting with a .380 batting average including two hits each in wins over Silliman, Columbia and Canton.

Julianna Morrow followed with a .352 avg. with three singles against Silliman and two singles in the win over Sylva Bay. Senior Laci DuBravec batted at a .312 clip with five hits in 16 at bats that included a triple and two singles, also against Sylva Bay.

Hastings Neal added a double and single in the win over Silliman and scored the lone run in the title game after reaching on a double in the seventh inning.

Freshmen Anna Lloyd registered a pair of singles in the victory over Columbia and an RBI single against Sylva Bay. Erin Snider chipped in with two hits each in wins over Canton and Sylva Bay.

Maribeth Johns and Katherine Rich had four hits each in the tournament while Hannah Heafner singled in the loss to Leake.

Named to the All Tournament team from North Delta are Peyton Rico, Bradi Beard, Laci Dubravec and Julianna Morrow.

North Delta finished the season with a 21-12 record.