By Brad Greer
South Panola was one strike away from wining their first district of the year Friday night, but one swing of the bat took care of all that.
With the homestanding Tigers leading 2-1 in the seventh, Will Ross delivered a two-strike, two-out double to drive in two runs as Hernando plated three unearned runs in the inning to escape with a 4-2 victory and remain undefeated in Region 2-6A play. Hernando (13-6; 5-0) won the first meeting of the three-game set between the two teams 2-0 Tuesday in Hernando.
Robert Wilike began the rally by reaching on an error before Ethan Goff walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. After Brantley Painter  reached on a fielders choice, Reese Lara laid down a sacrifice bunt to advanced runners to second and third with two outs.
Ross then laced a 2-2 delivery from South Panola starting pitcher Turner Rotenberry down the left field line to score Goff and Painter with the go ahead runs. Austin Ellis followed with a bloop single into right to drive in Ross.
South Panola (7-10; 0-4) mounted a rally in the bottom of the seventh as Noah Willis walked with one out but was picked off first as Cole Rotenberry lined into a game-ending double play.
Kyle Weaver got South Panola on the board in the second as he blasted a solo home run off Hernando starting pitcher Hunter Riggins. Weaver paced the Tigers offensively with a triple and single. Noah Willis accounted for South Panola’s only other hit with a double in the third.
South Panola extended its lead to 2-0 in the fifth as Nathan Herron scored on a Cole Rotenberry fielders choice.
Hernando cut the lead in half in the sixth as Ross led off with a double and came home on a RBI single by Ellis.
Turner Rotenberry took the tough luck loss on the mound for South Panola as the senior surrendered one earned run on eight hits while striking out two and walking one
 South Panola JV- 3 Hernando-0
 Ryan McCurdy and Luke Weldon combined on a shutout as the Tigers came away with the victory.
South Panola scored all of their runs in the third as Gehrig Griffin, Chris Brown and Luke Daniels all delivered singles while Brayden Locke and Tripp Still drove in runs.
McCurdy notched pitching win by throwing three innings, striking out two and giving up one hit. Weldon tossed the final two innings of relief where he surrendered two hits.