In the battle of the Hornets the victory went to the home standing Poplarville Lady Hornets. Poplarville defeated the visiting East Central Hornets in the best of three series to take the first round of the Class 4A state slow-pitch playoffs.

In the first contest, the Lady Hornets blew the opposition off the field with a solid hitting 10-run effort on 13 hits in the second inning behind the pitching of Taylor Myers to take the 10-0 win. Myers aided her team with a double in the win. Kayla Ross turned in a triple and a double, Chelsea Theriot added a triple, Christina Campbell had two double and Alyssa Graeter had a double.

The story of the second game was a different matter, with Poplarville dropping the game 3-2. Taking a slim 2-1 lead into the sixth inning the Lady Hornets allowed East Central to tie the contest at 2-all. The visitors then held Poplarville in the top of the seventh and a combination of errors and two singles allowed the winning run for East Central to cross the plate.

“We just lost intensity,” Ray said. “We beat them 10 to nothing the first game and we thought they were going to roll over. That’s a good team and they didn’t roll over.”

Poplarville shook off the loss and started the third contest with three runs in the first inning on the strength of a RBI triple from Campbell who was then called out when she tried to stretch the hit into a home run. The Lady Hornets picked up a run in the second inning and two more in the fourth before sealing the win with two runs in the sixth.

East Central managed two runs in the sixth inning but left two runners stranded on a line shot back to the pitcher, Myers. An attempted rally behind two singles got the visiting Hornets another run in the seventh but Larke Nightengale sealed the win, catching a long fly to center for the third out in the 8-3 win.

Ray said overall the defense was there for the team, holding East Central to only five runs in the three games. Myers went the distance on the mound for Poplarville.

Ray said Myers makes hitters swing at pitches they normally wouldn’t swing at.

The Lady Hornets now move on to the second round contest Saturday, playing at either Quitman or Brookhaven.