The offense did enough for Southeast Lauderdale Friday if that’s all that was needed.

The Lady Tigers’ defense and pitching, however, were shaky, and the result was a 19-6 loss to Columbia in Game 3 of the first round of the MHSAA Class 3A postseason.

After the two teams split a doubleheader Tuesday and the scheduled Game 3 was moved from Thursday to Friday due to rain, Southeast Lauderdale had a chance to secure a second-round berth on its home field. But six errors hurt the Lady Tigers against a Columbia offense that exploded for 19 runs and ended Southeast Lauderdale’s season.

“We gave away 22 free bases in five innings,” Southeast Lauderdale softball coach Chris Harper said. “We didn’t compete in the pitching circle, we didn’t compete defensively, and we did enough offensively, but if you ever win a championship, it’s defense, and we didn’t have any of that. I don’t know what the problem was or where our mind was, but it just didn’t seem like we were here ready to play. Really and truly, I apologize to all the fans that had to watch that. We didn’t give them a good showing, but you’ll never see a Southeast team play defense like that again.”

Columbia scored three runs in the first inning thanks in part to two errors and added another run in the top of the second to take an early 4-0 advantage. Southeast Lauderdale cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second when Jayden Carney had an RBI single and Emmy Williams drove in another run on a groundout. 

The top of the third inning was ugly for the Lady Tigers as Columbia jumped ahead 11-2. Of the seven runs scored in the frame, two came via bases-loaded walks, another came on a hit-by-pitch with bases juiced and the final one came on an infield single.

Southeast Lauderdale began to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the third when Lauren Pickett connected on a two-run single and Taylor Williams hit into an RBI fielder’s choice. A sacrifice fly by Hannah Goodman in the bottom of the fourth scored Emmy Williams, who earlier reached on a leadoff double to make the score 11-6.

Columbia, though, added eight more runs in the top of the fifth, three coming on bases-loaded walks, one coming on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, two scoring on an error, one scoring on a fielder’s choice and the final one scoring on an infield single.

Pickett took the loss for Southeast Lauderdale, as she lasted just 2 1/3 innings. The Lady Tigers finished with eight hits, three coming courtesy of middle schooler Bre Ruffin, who also doubled.

“She has really good hands, and the good thing about her is that she’s an eighth-grader,” Harper said. “We have her for a long time. I’m really proud of her, and she’s actually been leading the team — there are a lot of good things coming for her if she’ll continue to work.”

Alexis Wilson, Caitlyn Manor, Pickett, Carney and Emmy Williams also had hits for Southeast Lauderdale.

OTHER SCORES

Class 5A

Grenada 5, Neshoba Central 2

Class 4A

Newton County 4, Purvis 0

Class 3A

Choctaw Central 13, Wesson 4

Class 2A

Enterprise 10, Loyd Star 2

Philadelphia 3, East Webster 2