By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

POPLARVILLE — Picayune played Pearl River County rival Poplarville much tougher than when the two teams met just six days ago.

But the result ended up just like the first meeting.

The homestanding Lady Hornets fell behind the young but scrappy Lady Tide 1-0 early, but Poplarville rallied for three runs in its last three at bats to pull out a 3-1 win in Division 8-4A action.

The win moved Poplarville to 13-1 overall and 4-1 in league play, while Picayune stands 8-11 overall and 1-4 in the loop. Poplarville beat Picayune on the road 6-0 Friday.

“It’s a big game any time we play each other,” Poplarville head coach Jonathan Ray said. “Picayune gave us all we wanted, they played very hard. We were able to scratch out a few runs enough to win.”

Picayune’s Brooke Ladner scored on a infield single by Mallorie Mixon in the third to put the Lady Tide up 1-0.

Poplarville’s Chelsea Theriot responded with an RBI-single in the fourth to tie things up.

In the fifth, Kayla Ross was called safe at first on a bang-bang play with two outs, allowing the Lady Hornets to take the lead for good.

The call resulted in a lengthy delay when a Picayune assistant coach as well as a fan were ejected from the game after the close call.

“That’s part of the game,” Picayune head coach Kristi Mitchell said. “They thought they got the call right, and that’s all we can ask. It was a hard fought game and emotions were running high.”

Poplarville added an insurance run in the sixth when Megan Ladner singled home Janessa Dedeaux.

Ladner picked up the win on the mound, while Jessie Frierson took the tough-luck loss.

“We are full of youth, so I am excited about the way we competed,” Mitchell added.

“We aren’t playing as well as we were two weeks ago, and we need to find a way to get back to that level,” Ray concluded.