By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

HATTIESBURG — It didn’t take long for the success in softball that Poplarville’s Larke Nightengale enjoyed in high school to follow her to the collegiate level.

Nightengale, in just her freshman season, has been a big part of one of the most successful softball seasons ever for William Carey. The Lady Crusaders begin play today in the NAIA National Tournament in Decatur, Ala. It marks just the second time in school history that William Carey has been in the national tourney.

William Carey is 40-6 overall and won its first ever Gulf Coast Athletic Conference championship this season.

Nightengale has played in 43 of the 46 games, starting 38. She is fifth on the team in hitting with a .303 average, and is second on the team in stolen bases with eight. She also has four home runs and 26 runs batted in, both fourth on the squad in those respective categories.

The former Poplarville Lady Hornet all-state standout is coming off the biggest game of her collegiate career, as she drove in six runs and came up with three hits including a pair of doubles in a 25-0 smashing of the University of Maine in an NAIA Regional championship game in Charleston, W.V.

The Lady Crusaders began play this morning as they take on Waldorf College at 11:30 am at the Wilson Morgan Softball Complex. The 29th Annual Tournament will begin with pool play today through Saturday among the 32 teams in the event. Winners from each pool will move onto an eight-team double elimination bracket, played from Monday-Wednesday.

The Lady Crusaders are the top seed in Pool E, which also inculdes Waldorf College, today’s opoonent, as well as Notre Dame College and Brenau College.

Nightengale was one of the most successful female athletes ever at Poplarville High as she not only was a standout in fast-pitch and slow pitch softball but also on the basketball court as well.