By Brad Greer

South Panola’s Taylor Meek ran through a gamut of emotions in the Tigers opening Region 2-6A contest with Tupelo Tuesday night.

After committing a two-out error in the top of the seventh that tied the game at seven, the senior third baseman atoned for his mistake by blasting a one-out double in the bottom of the seventh to drive home Andrew Horne with the winning run to give the Tigers a 8-7 victory.

“I knew after I made that error I had  to make up for it somehow,“ said Meek, who’s three-run double in the fifth gave South Panola a then 6-3 lead.

“This was a huge game for us tonight. Anytime you play Tupelo it is a big game. They are going to keep coming at you no matter what the score is. I have never beaten them and the last time we did I was on the junior varsity team as a freshman, so yeah, I am going to remember this one,“ said Meek.

The victory by South Panola (9-4; 1-0) snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Golden Wave who fell to 4-4  on the season. The two teams  square off again tonight in Tupelo beginning at 6 p.m. South Panola will then travel to Olive Branch tomorrow for a 2 p.m. contest before visiting Senatobia Monday at 6 p.m. for a varsity only meeting.

South Panola took a 7-3 lead into the seventh and was two outs away from a victory before Tupelo rallied for four runs on one hit and one error. Tiger relief pitcher Hunter Ivy wiggled out of a bases loaded jam by forcing Hunter Allred to ground out to retire the side.

Ivy (2-0) tossed 1/3 of an inning to earn the win. Starting pitcher Chance Whitten tossed 6.1 innings while giving up five runs (three earned) on six hits with four walks and four strike outs. Taylor Karr followed with two unearned runs on one hit in 1/3 of an inning.

After the Golden Wave tied the game, Tays Hardy grounded out to start the bottom of the seventh. Horne then reached on an error before Meek drove a 1-1 offering from Tupelo reliever Hudson Roy into the left field gap for the game-winning hit.

South Panola took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Hardy and Horne led off with a pair of infield singles. Meek then walked to load the bases before Hardy raced home on a passed ball for the first run of the game.

After Preston Blair was hit by a pitch to reload the bases, Will Dickins bounced a single in between third and short to drive in a pair of runs.

Tupelo scratched across a run in the third then tied the game 3-3 with a pair of runs in the fourth off two balk calls on Whitten and a RBI single from Caleb Walker.

The Tigers responded with a two-out three-run rally in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead as Whitten and Hardy walked before Horne reached on an error before Meek cleared the bases with a double.

South Panola added yet another two-out run in the sixth when Blake Darby beat out an infield bunt then advanced to second on a stolen base. Following a Chris Townsend strikeout, Dashawn Lindsay’s RBI single drove in Darby from second.

Meek’s two doubles and Lindsay’s two singles totaled up half of the Tiger hits on the night as Hardy, Horne, Dickins and Darby added singles.

Walker and Brayden Owens led Tupelo with a pair of hits as the Golden Wave registered seven hits in the contest.