CLASS 2A SOUTH STATE Clarkdale at Enterprise Game 1: (C) Lady Dogs 7, (E) Lady Dogs 4 Game 2: (C) Lady Dogs 13, (E) Lady Dogs 1 Clarkdale wins best-of-three series, 2-0 • Veteran skipper Rick Roberson and his Lady Bulldogs will battle Hamilton for Class 2A crown on Saturday in Jackson.

ENTERPRISE — "What a difference a year makes."

Clarkdale coach Rick Roberson's words couldn't sum up the Class 2A South State championship series any better.

After being swept by rival Enterprise last year on this same field, Clarkdale returned the favor with a sweep of its own — 7-4 and 13-1 — here Tuesday night.

"This time last year we were broken-hearted," Roberson said. "Tonight was just our night. I'm proud of these girls."

CHS used a strong pitching performance by Cory Roberson and great defense in the second game as the visiting Lady Bulldogs dominated Enterprise.

Roberson — who faced only five batters over the minimum — gave up four hits and walked two batters. Only two runners got past first base.

The Clarkdale defense committed no errors and turned a double play to end the fifth inning, erasing one of the walks.

"Defensively, we made every play," Rick Roberson said. "It's funny because slow-pitch softball is an offensive game, but our defense helped us out tremendously."

That's not to say that the bats weren't hot for Clarkdale. The Lady Bulldogs did score 13 runs after all — all of which came in the second and third innings.

Eight of the Clarkdale hitters had at least one hit, with Cayla Coleman leading the way with a perfect 3-for-3 game — she also drove in one run.

Olivia Whitlock, who didn't start the first game, went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in Game 2.

CHS also benefitted from mistakes by the Enterprise defense and pitching staff.

Enterprise committed four errors in the game — leading to four runs — and walked four batters — all in the third inning and one with the bases loaded.

Those four walks came in the first five at-bats of the inning — the other was a pop-out to short.

The bases-loaded pass to pinch-hitter Abby Roberts gave Clarkdale an 8-1 lead.

Sarah Beckman followed with a grounder to short, and an error pushed another run across.

Back-to-back run-scoring singles by Coleman (one RBI) and Whitlock (two) increased the lead to 12-1.

An RBI-groundout by Roberson gave Clarkdale was the final run of the game, which ended after the top of the fifth inning.

CHS — which played the second game as the home team — started the bottom of the second inning with a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield by Amber Spann, who was out at second on Jessie Clark's fielder's choice.

Brittany Pippin hit a single up the middle — her fourth hit of the series after going 3-for-3 in Game 1 — before Katie Sanders grounded to second. Morgan Swancey made the stop, but the throw from her knees was off target at first. Clark scored on the error and Pippin and Sanders took third and second, respectively.

Erin Adcock followed with a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring Pippin.

Enterprise's second error of the inning — a throw that pulled Chelsea Jones off the bag at first — put runners on the corners for Beckman, who singled up the middle.

Coleman followed with a shot into right-center field which bounced over the head of Jessalyn Rozzell, plating the fourth and fifth runs of the game. Whitlock and Roberson both had RBI doubles before Enterprise could record the third out of the inning. Clarkdale led 7-0 after two.

The top of the next inning saw the only run of the game for EHS. Madelyn Helms singled and pinch-hitter Selena Irby walked to put runners on first and second. Helms reached third before being tagged out at the plate.

A single by Summer Robinson scored Haley Brooke Smith to cut the deficit to six runs, but it wouldn't get any closer.

"I thought we competed and played hard," said Enterprise coach Josh Perkins. "Once they got rolling we just couldn't make any big plays. I'm proud of the girls. Nobody gave us a chance to get back here this year."

The first game was much-less one-sided as neither team got on the board until the fourth inning.

An error at second base put Roberts on to start the frame. She moved to third on a single by Roberson and scored on a sac fly by Sanders.

A walk and a single loaded the bases for Brittany Pippin who sent a shot into left-center field. Smith charged the ball and dove trying to end the inning without allowing any more damage. When the ball skipped past her glove, Pippin had cleared the bases with a triple and had given Clarkdale a 4-0 lead.

"I try to preach being aggressive," Perkins said. "(Smith was) coming in wanting to make a big play with two outs. I can't fault her for playing hard."

CHS tacked on three more runs in the sixth — two on bases-loaded walks and another on a single by Alex Smith.

After loading the bases in the bottom of the frame, Enterprise scraped out four runs. The first came on a fielder's choice and the final three on errors — one by Beckman and the other by Lindsey Beard. Those errors were the only two of the series for Clarkdale.

"Congratulations to them," Perkins said. "They have a great team and we wish them luck Saturday. Hopefully they can bring a state championship back to this area."

Clarkdale will face Hamilton for the Class 2A title Saturday at the V.A. Fields in Jackson.

"I'm very proud of this team," Rick Roberson said. "We have been labeled as the underdog over the last few weeks. We told the girls 'Bring your bat, bring your glove and bring your shoes and play as hard as you can.' We expect a lot out of them.

"After we lost to Enterprise earlier in the year, we challenged the team and asked 'Is this how it's going to end?' We promised that, as coaches, we would work as hard as we could, but left it up to them."