Kosciusko softball improved to 4-0 in Region 4-4A with two easy victories over Louisville, both 16-0 in three innings. West Lauderdale and Choctaw Central were also 4-0 through games last week.
Kosciusko pitching allowed no hits and fanned 16 in the two games. Gracie William had seven strikeouts for three innings in the first game. In the second game, Mary Kimble Price went two innings with six strikeouts and a walk and Anna Grace Whitehead fanned all three batters she faced.
Campbell Blaine led the offense in the first game with a single, triple and homer. Williams doubled and tripled, Brittlyn Gillum and Gracie Kate Burrell both singled and doubled, Kelly Goss had two singles and Price and Makynkee Dickerson doubled.
Dickerson had three singles, Price and Williams two singles each and Raines Ramage doubled in the second game.
On a warm Saturday afternoon, Kosciusko closed out the week with two games against 6A teams at Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood. The Lady Whippets were edged by Northwest Rankin, the state's top ranked team, 5-4 in eight innings and defeated DeSosto Central 11-0.
After Kosciusko failed to score in the top of the eighth against Northwest Rankin, Elizabeth Collier began the bottom of the inning at second base under the international rule for extra innings. She scored the winning run on a one-out single by Hannah Sullivan.
Northwest Rankin took a 4-0 lead with two runs in the first and two more in the third. Kosciusko tied it with four in the fifth.
Price started the rally with a double over the outstretched arm of center fielder Brooke Smith. Blaine and Dickerson each had a run-scoring single.
After allowing four runs on six hits the first three innings, Williams blanked Northwest Rankin on three hits over the next four innings.
The Whippets left 10 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the third when Dickerson was called out on a 3-2 pitch at her ankles. Even Northwest Rankin coach Mike Armstrong said it should have been ball four, forcing in a run.
It was a major improvement for the Lady Whippets from the first time the teams met, an 11-1 Northwest Rankin victory February 14. The difference, coach Tony Terry said, is team health. “We think when we get healthy, we can play with anybody. The last time we played them, we weren’t healthy. We’re not completely healthy, but we’re getting people back.”
Kosciusko jumped on DeSoto Central with five runs in the first on only one hit, a double by Price, along with two walks, a hit batter, two throwing errors and run-scoring grounders by Dickerson and Graycee Rosamond.
The Lady Whippets added four runs in the third then closed out the game under the 10-run mercy rule with two in the fifth.
Whitehead gave up six hits and two walks, with five strikeouts. Her only serious trouble came in the third when DeSoto Central loaded the bases with two outs on two singles and a walk. She preserved the shutout by retiring Katelyn Short on a bouncer to Williams at second.
Kosciusko had to play back-to-back games with temperatures in the 80s under bright sunshine. “It was rough on them,” Terry said. “I thought they competed well.”
Northwest Rankin closed out the day’s competition with a 6-3 victory over DeSoto Central, improving to 15-1.
Kosciusko played 4-4A opponent Northeast Lauderdale Tuesday, will be at Northeast Lauderdale Thursday and at defending 5A state champion Neshoba Central Friday in a non-region game. On the horizon are games with Choctaw Central next Monday and Tuesday and West Lauderdale April 11 and 13.
The region’s top three teams will advance to the 4A playoffs, with the winner earing a first round bye.
