Fastpitch Lady Tigers exit earlier than they expected

By Angie Ledbetter

The South Panola Lady Tigers fastpitch softball team’s dream season came to an end Monday at the hands of Desoto Central in a 7-0 shutout.
In the best of three series, Desoto Central took both games as the Lady Tigers (19-7 overall) were expecting to play for two more weeks.
Lady Tiger head coach Ashleigh Hicks thanked the seniors.

“I want to thank you for all the time you’ve put into this program. Seniors, we love y’all and thank y’all very much for everything. It’s been a good road.”
Hicks said, “I don’t care who won this ballgame, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here with you guys. We didn’t play our game and we knew that when it started rolling like that. When you get to this point in the playoffs, you’ve got to play one pitch at a time and put the ball in play and we didn’t.”

Hicks told them they had a great year and had nothing to hold their heads down about. She even warned them no to leave with their heads down.
“Should you be going home right now, no? You’re a much better team than what that score board shows. I want you to hold your heads up and I love you all.”
Hicks said the team who makes the least amount of errors would win. The Lady Tigers made five and Desoto Central had none.

Desoto Central scored one run in bottom of the second, two in bottom of the third taking a 3-0 lead, and four in bottom of the fifth on seven hits.
The Lady Tigers had 10 hits and left eight stranded.
Haley Reid led at the plate with three hits. Marla Rudd and Savanna Williams had two each. Getting one hit each was Amanda Ivy, Hannah Moore and Madison Taylor. 
Nicole Fullilove pitched the complete game and took the loss, facing 32 batters and striking out one.

Senior catcher Ivy led the Lady Tigers this season with 28 runs, 30 hits on 72 at bats. She also had four home Sruns for the season. Rudd led with 21 singles followed by Ivy’s 20. Brown and Fullilove had nine doubles each to lead their team. Ivy had three triples and Rudd had two.
Moore led the Lady Tigers on the season with 20 RBIs followed by Brown and Ivy with 17. Ivy had 224 putouts. Brown had 42 assists and Reid had 36 to end the season.
“I think we had a great season,” said Hicks. “I’m very proud of our team. We had a great group of seniors with a lot of young talent behind them. Fullilove did an amazing job on the mound. We have nothing to hold our heads down about. We’ll come back next year strong.”