CHOCTAW —
The Southeast Lauderdale Tigers formed a circle, locking arms and singing “Lean on Me” in unison after sweeping Choctaw Central 11-5, 11-1 to advance to the state championship against South Pontotoc on Saturday. Despite winning Division 5-3A, Southeast had to travel to Choctaw Central due to the fact the Warriors had yet to host a playoff series.
However, head coach Mack Fanning and his girls made themselves right at home.
“It's hard to get on the bus and go somewhere when you win the district,” Fanning said. “This field has always been hard for us to play on. They beat us here this year 7-6, but we pulled through this time.”
Southeast Lauderdale didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard against Choctaw Central, making the most of a two-out rally in the first inning of Game 1 to put the Warriors in a 4-0 hole early.
The Tigers came back just as hard in the second inning, scoring three more runs and extending the lead to 7-1.
The Warriors rallied back for three more runs in the bottom of the second, but nothing could stop the Tiger bats, as the Southeast plated two more runs in the top of the third before third baseman Nancy Williams lifted a two-run home run in the fourth to make the score 11-4 and put the game back out of reach.
Dori Timms led the Southeast with three hits, as the Tigers cruised to the easy victory. Williams, Katie Dawson and Denisha Knight also collected multiple hits for the Tigers in Game 1.
“We hit pretty well up and down the line up today,” Fanning said. “We expect our first five girls to always put it in play, but tonight we had good production from our seven, eight and nine hitters as well.”
In Game 2 it was much of same for the Tigers, as Southeast held the Warriors in the top of the first before coming out firing for five runs in the bottom half of the inning.
In the second inning, Timara Trusell rocketed a three-run bomb to right in the second inning to make the score 7-0, as Southeast was well on its way to the title.
Starting pitcher Taylor Powell was also dialed in in the circle, controlling both sides of the plate and frustrating Warrior batters all night. Powell did not issue a single walk in either game while picking up both wins for the Tigers.
“Powell pitched really well tonight,” Fanning said. “If we are not careful we can tend to walk people at key times. Powell not walking anyone worked out great for us, and she had a great night.”
Next up for Southeast will be a match up against North State champion South Pontotoc. The Tigers lost to Nettleton in the state championship last year, and Fanning said he hopes his team is more ready to take the next step and bring a title home to Southeast.
“We look forward to representing the south in 3A,” Fanning said. “Certainly we have a challenge in front of us, and we look forward to Saturday morning.”
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Tigers lean on each other, sweep Warriors
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