September 30, 2008

Lady Tide rallies past Poplarville 4-3

by Carey Meitzler

Picayune --Two good teams coached by two good coaching staffs went scoreless for five innings in a slow pitch game. This may

sound boring in most cases, but numerous great plays by both teams kept the overflow crowd of 200 plus on their feet or at least

the edge of their seat. Then, the last two innings provided enough excitement to last a season as Picayune's Lady Tide scored a

run in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim a 4-3 over the Poplarville Lady Hornets.

All photos by John Young

Brandi Rabion  doubles in the bottom of the first inning.

Picayune's Sarah Dodd and Poplarville's Allysa Graeter did what they have done all season as the two pitchers kept

opposing batters at bay.  The Lady Hornets finally broke the scoring drought in the top of the sixth.

With two outs and no one on base, Megan Ladner singled to right center.  Fore doubled to deep center allowing

Ladner to score. Fore would score on Kayla Fendalson's single for a 2-0 lead.  In the inning, catcher Millie Gill

saved a run by leaping high to bring in a throw from the outfield that would have allowed at least one or maybe two

runs to score.

The Lady Tide rallied in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.  With one out, Katie Kent reached on an error

when her fly ball to left center was mishandled.  After a fly out, Hillary Dickens singled and gave way to pinch runner

Natassia Poole.  Tiffany Reed hit a ball to deep center field that bounced out of the glove of the Hornet defender

allowing both Kent and Poole to score and move Reed to third base on a throw to home plate.  Taylor Seals singled

to drive in Reed for a 3-2 lead.

Tiffany Reed drives a pitch to deep center field driving in two runs.

Poplarville tied the game in the top of the seventh when Brandi Rester doubled and later scored on Graeter's

sacrifice fly to right center.

Picayune's Tiffany Devore walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh.  Sarah Dodd, who had three hits, singled

to left. After a fly out and a strikeout, Katie Kent hit a soft fly ball that fell just in front of the Lady Hornet's left

fielder allowing Devore to score the winning run.

Katie Kent's (above) fly ball to left drove in Tiffany Devore (below) in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Picayune and Poplarville both finished 5-1 in Division play, but the Lady Hornets are Division champions

by virtue of run differential with a 8-1 win over Picayune on September 18 at Poplarville.

Picayune (15-3, 5-1) will close out the regular season at Columbia on Thursday while Poplarville (12-3, 5-1)

will do the same hosting East Central.

On Tuesday, Picayune travels to Quitman for a best two of three series while Poplarville will host Northeast

Lauderdale in the first round of the playoffs with the same format.