Lady Wolves Walk off Earns Region 23 Championship

WESSON – The Co-Lin Softball team played one final game at Lady Wolves Field as they hosted the Pearl River Wildcats on Sunday, May 10, for the Region 23 Championship. The No. 4 Lady Wolves and No. 5 Wildcats needed extra innings to decide the game as the Lady Wolves earned a 3-2 walk off victory in nine innings.

The game was scoreless through the first three innings as each team worked through early potential scoring threats and had stellar defense behind them as the first inning for each team featured a line out double play. However, the Wildcats struck first with a solo home run in the top of the fourth to take an early 1-0 lead.

The Lady Wolves responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth as Emilie Williams (Summit) and Morgan Chisolm (Madison) hit back-to-back singles to start the inning. Annie Poole (Brookhaven) then hit an RBI-single scoring Williams to tie the game. Abby Burnette then hit a second-straight RBI-single scoring Chisolm while Poole was thrown out at home trying to score a second run on the play while the Lady Wolves then held a 2-1 lead. Stella Roberts (Raymond) then drew a walk to put two runners on with two outs, but a strikeout followed by a groundout ended the inning with no additional scoring.

The Lady Wolves then looked to add to their lead in the bottom of the sixth as Burnette reached on an error with one out to get the offense going. Landry Loper (Olive Branch) was then brought in as a pinch runner and later advanced to second on a two-out single by Brooklyn Reine (Kentwood, LA). Noelle Laiche (Gonzales, LA) then singled, but Landry was thrown out at home trying to score on the play ending the inning with no scoring done.

The Wildcats then tied the game with a leadoff solo home run in the top of the seventh making the score, 2-2. The Lady Wolves then looked to win the game in the bottom half of the seventh as Brelie Phillips (Conehatta) drew a walk to put the winning run on base with one out. Later in the inning, Chisolm and Poole drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with two outs; however, a strikeout ended the inning and left the bases loaded sending the game to extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, the Wildcats looked to take the lead as the go-ahead run got to second base after a two-out single; however, a popout ended the inning with the game still tied at 2-2. After the Lady Wolves were retired in order in the bottom of the eighth, the Wildcats once again got the go-ahead run to second base after a two-out single in the top of the ninth. However, once again the Lady Wolves left the runner at second base as a flyout ended the inning with no scoring done.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Lady Wolves got the offense going with a leadoff double from Ayari VanBlaircom (Daphne, AL) to put the winning run in scoring position. VanBlaircom then advanced to third on a bunt single by Phillips putting runners on the corners with no outs. Williams then stepped up to the plate and then VanBlaircom scored the winning run on a wild pitch clinching the 3-2 victory and the Region 23 Championship for the Lady Wolves.

The Lady Wolves totaled ten hits as Brooklyn Reine led the way with two hits while Ayari VanBlaircom, Brelie Phillips, Emilie Williams, Morgan Chisolm, Annie Poole, Abby Burnette, Stella Roberts, and Noelle Laiche had one hit each. Poole and Burnette had one RBI each.

Addison Lindley (Madison) improved to 23-3 with the complete game win allowing two earned runs on nine hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

Co-Lin is now 48-5 overall and will wait to find out their seeding and opponent for the NJCAA Division II National Tournament that starts on May 19 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.