By Angie Ledbetter
Due to some wildcard teams in the MPSA lineup, North Delta will host the first round of the playoffs Monday night.

The Green Wave placed second in District 1-A after splitting the series with Tunica Monday night in a best-of-three series. Tuesday, the teams will battle at Deer Creek, near Leland.

The Green Wave will host Deer Creek Academy beginning at 5 p.m.

There were two teams battling the cold weather and strong wind on Monday for the 1A district championship.

There were two games left to be played at the district tournament at Delta Academy and they included two teams that showed their baseball strength.

The Blue Devils came into the game as the first seed and the Green Wave, second.

 Game One

 In the first game in the top of the first, senior center fielder Josh Garrott led the Wave off with a walk. Jim Tyler Dalrymple, first baseman, hit his first career home run bringing in Garrott for a two run homer.

On the mound for the Wave was Jim Tom Copeland who struck out two batters in the first inning and the Blue Devil’s pitcher flew out to Garrott in centerfield for the third out.

In the second inning, Britt Lawrence drew a walk. Geri Lamm followed with a double advancing Lawrence to third. Austin Gant hit a double driving Lawrence across the plate. With Dalrymple back to the plate, the Blue Devils gave up another double, driving Gant home for the 4-0 Green Wave lead.

Bottom of inning the Blue Devils found no way of scoring with Copeland fanning two more batters. The designated hitter flew out to Michael Magee in right field for last out.

The Wave heated the day up with the bats scoring eight runs. Starting the rally off was Greenlee who walked. Chris Rodgers came in as pinch runner. Magee and Barnett both singled loading the bases. Lawrence, Lamm, and Gant all contributed with a single each before Tunica changed pitchers. With the pitching change, Dalrymple singled and stole to second.  Greenlee reached base for the second time of the inning and Chase Bruce was the pinch runner for him.

Magee singled and Barnett doubled. Scoring the eight runs were Dalrymple, Rodgers, Magee, Barnett, Lawrence, Lamm, Gant, and Bruce.

Tunica started the bottom of third with the left fielder grounding out to Lamm on third. Copeland fanned the second baseman for second out. Following a walk by the catcher, he stole second. The first baseman fell victim to another Copeland strikeout.

In the bottom of the fourth, Tunica’s pitcher hit a double followed by a single by the center fielder. With a couple of steals and a walk, Tunica pushed one run across the plate to avoid a shutout, 12-1.

In the fifth the Wave came up empty, but the Blue Devil’s catcher hit a three-run homer to cut the score 12-4.

Copeland and Magee both singled to start the sixth before Lawrence hit a two RBI triple and Lamm kept things going with his second single of the game and Gant drew a walk. Copeland, Magee, and Lawrence added three more runs.

Copeland hurled 86 pitches to give the Wave a 15-4 victory and another shot at the district championship.  

Game Two

By a coin toss, the Wave was put into the visiting dugout again for the district championship game.

Tunica’s second baseman began the bottom of first with a double. Next at bat Tunica hit a single.  The base runner was trying for third and was thrown out by Barnett from left field for the first out.

The pitcher doubled and first baseman walked. Copeland struck out the center fielder for second out and third baseman singled to right field scoring two runs. The Tunica shortstop hit a RBI single.

Copeland fanned the next batter for a third out giving Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage.

Starting the second inning, Greenlee walked and Rogers came in as pinch runner. Barnett hit a double driving Rogers home to give the Wave one run.

In the bottom of third, Tunica rallied for six runs giving them a 9-1 margin. Copeland scored the last run of the game for the Wave in the top of fourth.

First baseman for Blue Devils scored a run in bottom of fifth putting score at 10-2. The Blue Devils scored two in the sixth bringing the game to an end with the 10-run mercy rule. The Tunica Blue Devils defeated the North Delta Green Wave for the 1A District Championship.