HATTIESBURG — In the end, the bats just weren’t there to pick up Choctaw Central.

After losing a 7-6 contest in extra innings Monday evening, the Lady Warriors came back and beat South Pontotoc in Game 2 earlier Tuesday afternoon 3-2 to force a rubber match in the MHSAA Class 3A fast-pitch state championship series. But despite tallying eight hits in Game 3, the Lady Warriors weren’t able to get enough timely hits, as South Pontotoc took a 3-1 win to leave Choctaw Central one win short of a state championship.

“We came back in the second game, and we (forced) a third game, but our bats just weren’t rolling for us,” Choctaw Central head coach Mercedes Cotton said. “I guess we just wanted it too much that we let it get the best of us. We rushed ourselves — we didn’t wait for the ball. We just didn’t bring our A game like we did in the second game.”

Choctaw Central trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning before the Lady Warriors finally got on the board when Leia Phillips hit a sacrifice fly to score Malaka Morris from third base and cut the lead to 2-1. But the Lady Cougars struck back in the top of the sixth inning when they scored on a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 3-1.

Tyra Billy singled with two outs in the seventh inning for Choctaw Central, but the Lady Warriors were unable to drive her in as South Pontotoc secured the third out and the win.

Tia’Rain Saunders, Morris, Billy and Melanian Jimmie each had one hit apiece, and Ahnaya Williams and Neera Bell finished with two hits for the Lady Warriors.

Bell, fresh off a nine-inning no-hitter in Game 2, went just three innings for the Lady Warriors, surrendering one unearned run on one hit and four walks. Saunders pitched the remaining four innings, giving up one earned run on four hits. The Lady Warriors defense committed three errors.

The Lady Warriors have no seniors on their team, and half of the roster is comprised of seventh and eighth graders. Maiya Joe, Saunders, Jimmie and Jaida Bell are the lone upperclassmen, and all four are juniors. It will be a more experienced roster, but Choctaw Central will also be moving up a classification to 4A.

“For next year, we’re going to have a lot of tough teams to go through, I know that for sure,” Cotton said. “The only thing I know for sure that we can do is work harder.”

Still, in light of the inexperienced roster, Cotton said getting to the state championship series and forcing a Game 3 is still a big accomplishment.

“We had seven seniors that we lost from last year and now we have a lot of seventh graders and three eighth graders,” Cotton said. “We’re young, and I just thought we were going to rebuild. If we didn’t make it to the playoffs, there was always next year. But, we were here, and second place, I guess we can take that. If they will stick together, work hard and push one another, they’ll be good when they get older.”

Choctaw Central finished the season 17-18.