By Brad Greer
It is  no secret that Grenada has been a thorn in the side of South Panola the past two seasons. It was the Chargers that denied  the Tigers a district championship last year with a late- season victory.

Grenada was at it again Tuesday as Bradley Sanford’s squeeze bunt with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning scored Ethan Burke to give the Chargers a 3-2 win.

South Panola fell to 8-7 and 1-4 in Region 2-6A play while Grenada improved to 2-3 in district and 9-4 overall.

With the Tigers clinging to a 2-1 lead in the seventh, Burke got the rally started by drawing a one-out walk.

Caleb Morgan followed with a sharp single to left to put runners on first and second. Dillon Hill then delivered a single to plate Burke with the game tying run. Then with runners on second and third, Sanford laid down a perfect suicide bunt that drove in the winning run to end what had been a emotionally charged contest between the two clubs.

South Panola broke a 1-1 tie in the top of the seventh on Rip Kirk’s bases loaded infield single that scored Adam Cook who led off the inning with a single.

Both teams opposing hurlers, Grenada’s Shelby Craddock and the Tigers Austin Towles found themselves locked in a pitchers dual throughout the game as both surrendered two hits each going into the seventh inning. Craddock scattered four hits with one earned run  while striking out three and walking two.

Towles (3-3) suffered the tough luck loss by giving up three runs (two earned) on five hits with three strikeout and two walks.

South Panola grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second as Jesse Pearson reached on a error to lead off the inning and later scored on Hunter Ivy’s RBI groundout to second.

 Grenada answered with a unearned run of their own in the fifth as Burke led off with a single and later scored on a two-out error. Both teams threated to break open the tie in the sixth but South Panola had a runner thrown out at second while the Chargers Will Jordan bounced into a 4-6-3 double play to end the bottom of the sixth.

  Carter Avan, Cook, Ivy and Kirk all registered singles for the Tigers while Javorious Redditt, Burke, Morgan, Hill and Sanford collected singles for Grenada.

  South Panola committed two errors and left four on base while Grenada made one error and stranded three runners.

  The Junior Varsity contest between the two squads ended in a 5-5 tie after five innings. Cole Rotenberry, Zach Hopper and Turner Rotenberry provided singles for the Tigers.

  South Panola will be back in action today as the host Grenada at 4 & 6 p.m. The Tigers are set to host Cleveland at noon and Olive Branch at 5 p.m   tomorrow as part of the Wes Smythe Classic.