Tigers 1-1 in district, play Oxford this week

By Brad Greer

After dropping a 4-3 district opener at Tupelo last Tuesday on a walkoff single in the seventh inning, South Panola rebounded in a big way by routing the Golden Wave 11-5 Friday at Tiger Field.

The Tigers were rewarded for their strong 12-2 start on the season with a No. 13 state ranking in the mississippigridiron.com prep rankings that came out Monday.

On Friday, eight of the nine Tiger batters in the starting lineup drove in a run as South Panola (1-1 in district) sent Tupelo starting pitcher Carson Sorrell to the showers early with seven runs on seven hits in three innings.

Sophomore Dawson Griffin gave up one unearned run in five innings on the mound to earn the pitching victory, improving to 4-0 on the season.

Bowen Williams came on in relief and shut the door on the Golden Wave with four strikeouts in the final two innings.

South Panola wasted little time jumping on Sorrell with three runs in the bottom of the first as Williams’ single got the Tigers on the board.

After an RBI groundout by Dre’ Moore, Gehrig Griffin doubled past first base to drive in Williams for a 3-0 South Panola lead.

A costly dropped fly ball in the outfield led to four unearned runs as Tupelo took a 4-3 lead in the second, but the Tigers quickly responded with three in the bottom of the frame to regain the lead at 7-4.

Nine hole hitter Braydyn Lee got the rally started by drawing a walk. Dawson Griffin and Mari Boyd followed with singles before Blaine Ware tied the game with a sacrifice fly to plate courtesy runner Keshaun Lantern. Griffin and Boyd later come home when Sorrell uncorked a wild pitch.

The Tigers added another run in the third as Denver Brown tripled with two outs and scored on Lee’s single. South Panola put the game away with a single run in the fifth and three more in the sixth on consecutive RBI’s from Wes Morgan and Brown.

South Panola finished with ten hits on the night with Boyd, Williams and Lee leading the way with two each.

SP 6

Water Valley 5

South Panola traveled to Water Valley Saturday and held off a late Blue Devil rally to earn a 6-5 victory.

Luke Weldon spun a complete game for the Tigers on the mound to improve his record to 4-0 on the season. The senior right-hander gave up five runs (one earned) on six hits with five strikeouts and three walks while lowering his earned run average to 1.06 for the year.

The Tigers looked to make quick work of Water Valley by sending nine batters to the plate in the first inning for a 4-0 lead. Dawson Griffin led off with a single then scored on Mari Boyd’s double.

Bo Williams and Dre’ Moore followed with back-to-back singles before Wes Morgan added a infield single to produce a run.

Blaine Ware’s two-run home run in the second gave South Panola a 6-0 lead proved to be the difference as Water Valley added one run in the second and three in the fourth to close the margin to 6-4.

The Tigers added their final run in the fifth as Ware led off with a walk and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Moore.

Water Valley plated a unearned run in the bottom of the seventh and had the potential tying run at the plate but Weldon ended the game with a strike out.

Junior Varsity

Dre’ Moore and Jensen Presley combined on a two-hit shutout as the Tiger Junior Varsity squad won 4-0 at Water Valley.

The Tigers broke open a 1-0 game in the fifth with a two-run single from Eli Russell.

South Panola hosts Oxford High School tonight at 7 p.m. and travels there Friday.

Cutline: Denver Brown tripled against Tupelo here Friday night, and scored on a single from Braydyn Lee. The Tigers play Oxford High School twice this week. (Glennie Pou)