Photo: DeSoto Central coach Harley Bumpous talks with her infield during a moment at Wednesday’s playoff game against Clinton. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Baseball and softball teams this time of year are playing the game of dancing around the rainfall with schedule changes to get playoff games in. Three MHSAA 7A softball playoff series involving DeSoto County schools and one MHSAA 7A baseball series all started Wednesday night. Softball started a day ahead of its original schedule and the Clinton-Hernando baseball series was originally set to begin on Friday.
The softball moves seem to work for Hernando and Lewisburg, which both came up with game one victories. It was not so good for DeSoto Central, which dropped a 4-3 decision to Clinton at home in its series opener.
The Lady Arrows started the game with a pair of runs in the second inning thanks to a two-out single that scored a pair of runs with the bases loaded. Two more runs scored in the fourth when one run came in with a ground ball fielder’s choice and the other resulted with a dropped fly ball in the outfield.
For DeSoto Central, Wednesday was a matter of leaving too many runners on base and not getting timely hits when needed.
“We made some mistakes that we don’t normally make,” said DeSoto Central coach Harley Bumpous. “They capitalized on them as we would if we were in their shoes. Good news is that I don’t believe they saw our best tonight.”
The Lady Jags did make a comeback in the sixth with a ground ball out that scored a run. A second run scored when a catcher’s throw on a steal attempt is dropped by an infielder and that allowed a runner to score from third. Another ground ball out produced the third run of the sixth inning.
The Lady Jags were closing on possibly sending the game to extra innings but a strikeout with a runner at third base closed out the contest in favor of the Lady Arrows.
Game two of the best-of-three series will be at Clinton on Friday with possible game three back at DeSoto Central on Saturday.
LEWISBURG CORRALS LADY MAVS: A Bailee Davis homer to center field tied the game in the top of the seventh and Campbell Kent’s RBI single in the eighth scored what would become the winning run in a 3-2 victory at Germantown in Madison.
Davis’ home run was shared on the Lewisburg softball X/Twitter account:
Game two in the series will be Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. at Lewisburg with the Lady Patriots looking to close the series out.
HERNANDO SOFTBALL BEATS TUPELO TO OPEN SERIES: Last year’s MHSAA 7A state runner-up, Hernando opened their playoff road this season with a 7-1 victory at home over Tupelo. Game two of the MHSAA 7A first-round series will be at Tupelo Thursday evening at 6 p.m.
CLINTON DROPS HERNANDO BASEBALL: Clinton opened the MHSAA 7A first round playoff series against the Tigers, last year’s state runner-up, with a 9-7 game-one victory at Tiger Field Wednesday night. Game two of the best-of-three series will be on the Arrows’ home diamond Saturday at 4 p.m.
SPORTS ETC.: New Northwest Mississippi Community College men’s basketball coach John Redman has announced a date for his first men’s basketball tryout.
Redman will host a tryout on Tuesday, April 29 from 4-6 p.m. at Howard Coliseum on the Senatobia campus. A physical is required for all participants and a $20 registration cost is also required.
Further questions can be directed to Redman at (662) 562-3224 or jredman@northwestms.edu.
