Lady Wolves Punch Ticket to National Tournament

WESSON – The Co-Lin Softball team entered the final day of the Region 23 Semifinal Tournament knowing they needed one win over rival Southwest to earn their fourth straight trip to the Region 23 Championship as well as a fourth straight trip to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament. The Lady Wolves accomplished their goal by beating the Lady Bears, 10-2.

The Lady Wolves wasted no time in making a statement as they exploded for five runs in the bottom of the first as Ayari VanBlaircom (Daphne, AL) started the scoring by crushing a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence for a leadoff solo home run, her 13th of the season, making the score, 1-0. Two pitches later, Brelie Phillips smashed a pitch over the fence in left field for back-to-back solo home runs, her 21st of the season, making the lead 2-0. Emilie Williams (Summit) then drew a walk while later in the inning, Annie Poole (Brookhaven) crushed a 3-2 pitch over the right field fence for a two-run home run, her 13th of the season, doubling the lead to 4-0. Later in the inning, Stella Roberts (Raymond) blasted a 1-1 pitch over the left field fence for a solo home run, her ninth of the season, for a solo home run pushing the lead to 5-0. Two pitches later, Brooklyn Reine lasered a ball over the fence in left field for the second pair of back-to-back solo home runs in the innings, her third of the season, extended the lead to 6-0 after the fifth home run of the inning.

The Lady Wolves added a solo run in the bottom of the second as Poole hit a two-out double and then scored on an RBI-double by Abby Burnette (Brookhaven) increasing the lead to 7-0. The Lady Wolves added another solo run in the bottom of the third as Reine crushed a 2-1 pitch over the centerfield fence for a leadoff solo home run, her fourth of the season and the Lady Wolves sixth of the game, pushed the lead to 8-0.

The Lady Wolves added two runs in the bottom of the fourth as Williams drew a leadoff walk while Morgan Chisolm (Madison) hit a single to put two runners on with no outs. Poole then singled to score Williams while Chisolm then scored on a sacrifice fly by Burnette extending the lead to 10-0.

The Lady Bears then struck for two in the top of the fifth and had an additional runner on in scoring position before a flyout ended the game securing the victory along with trips to the Region 23 Championship game and Division II National Tournament for the Lady Wolves.

The Lady Wolves totaled 11 hits as Annie Poole led the way going 3-for-3 while Stella Roberts and Brooklyn Reine had two hits apiece with Ayari VanBlaircom, Brelie Phillips, Morgan Chisolm, and Abby Burnette had one hit each. Poole led the Lady Wolves in RBIs with three while Burnette and Reine had two RBIs apiece with VanBlaircom, Phillips, and Roberts had one RBI each.

Addison Lindley (Madison) improved to 22-3 overall with the complete game effort allowing two earned runs on three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Co-Lin improves to 4-5 overall and will host Pearl River for the Region 23 Championship game at 3 p.m., on Saturday May 9 at Lady Wolves Field in Wesson.