This time Kosciusko did not need any late inning heroics. The Lady Whippets repeated as state 4A softball champions with a 10-1 victory over Sumrall in the decisive game of the title series at the University of Southern Mississippi.
A year ago, Kosciusko rallied from five runs down in the seventh inning and three down in the eighth of the decisive game to defeat North Pike for the championship.
The big question this year was whether the game would ever end. Two weather delays – lightning and rain – lasted more than four hours.
The Lady Whippets led 2-1 through three and a half innings when a bolt of lightning caused the first stoppage. At this point, it looked like it would be another nail biter like the first two games, a 9-7 Kosciusko victory and a 5-4 Sumrall win.
The players started a dog pile on second base and embraced each other in the moment the girls secured the coveted 4A state title.
Jared Davis / The Star-Herald
The Lady Whippets took a 2-0 lead in the first when Campbell Blaine singled and Mary Kimble Price followed with a homer off the scoreboard in left center. “I hadn’t hit well in the series, so I was just trying to focus and get a pitch I could handle.” Price said.
A big play came with Sumrall batting in the top of the fourth. The Lady Bobcats had a run in and runners at first and second with two outs. Brette Loftin hit a soft liner toward centerfield, but Kosciusko shortstop Makynlee Dickerson was able to snag it, saving a run.
Senior right fielder Lizzie Kate Jones hustled and stretched to make the catch for a crucial out late in the game.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
“That was a really good play,” said Kosciusko coach Tony Terry. “It could have been a big inning. A series could swing on something like that because you never know what the next batters will do.”
After the first delay, Kosciusko padded its lead in the bottom of the fourth. Lizzie Kate Jones had a two-run single following singles by Anna Grace Whitehead and Maicee Coleman and a walk to Gracie Williams.
Then came the second delay.
The Lady Whippets broke the game open in the fifth. Dickerson singled, Price was given an intentional walk and Whitehead doubled in two runs. Singles by Alexandra West, Coleman and Williams and a bases loaded walk to Jones plated three more runs.
Junior center fielder Campbell Blaine was chosen as the Lady Whippets’ Most Valuable Player in the state championship series.
Jared Davis / The Star-Herald
The final run came in the sixth when Blaine singled, stole second and continued around to score when the catcher’s throw ended up in centerfield.
Blaine was chosen series MVP. She had seven hits and two walks, stole seven bases, and scored seven runs in the three games. Whenever she got on, she took off on the first pitch.
Normally, Kosciusko is not much of a running team, but Terry felt the Lady Whippets could run on Loftin, Sumrall’s catcher. “When you see a weakness, you exploit it.”
Freshman third baseman Mary Kimble Price rounds second base, sparking energy for the Lady Whippets after dropping a homerun bomb off of the scoreboard in left-center field.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
Whitehead went the distance for the win, allowing six hits and three walks, with eight strikeouts. She also had complete games in the first two games of the series, but said she was sharper in the final contest, and two days between the second and third games helped.
“I got two days rest and I was more focused the last day.” She said the rain also helped by cooling temperatures that reached the 90s at game time.
Price, who also singled, had only two hits the first two games and Whitehead was hitless before they broke out in Game Three.
“I didn’t feel they could be continued to be contained. They are too good of hitters,” Terry said.
Kosciusko was two outs away from the championship in Game Two before Sumrall rallied for a 5-4 victory.
The Lady Whippets broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth when Blaine led off with a single, stole second, took third on a ground ball and scored on a sacrifice fly by West.
Jared Davis / The Star-Herald
Pitcher Anna Grace Whitehead and shortstop Makynlee Dickerson smile with their medals moments after winning the state title.
Londyn Robertson led off the top of the seventh with a single for Sumrall. After a sacrifice bunt by Olivia Herrin, Anna Grace Shows singled in the tying run. Another single by Shaylee Ingram and a two-out, two-run double by Brandi Bond over the head of Coleman in left field made it 5-3.
Kosciusko didn't go quietly. Laura Beth Wood led off the bottom of the seventh with a pinch single and took second on a wild pitch. Dickerson followed with a drive to deep right but Shows ran it down with an over the shoulder catch.
Price singled in Wood, but Sumrall pitcher Ashlyn Buckhalter was able to get the final two outs.
Terry praised Sumrall’s outfield of Shows in right, Ingram in left and Robertson in center. They caught everything Kosciusko hit in the air.
“Their outfield is incredible. I can say that there were eight plays that would have been extra base hits if it weren’t for their left fielder and especially their right fielder. She was something else.” Outstanding plays by Ingram and Shows were the difference in the second game.
Kosciusko won the series opener 9-7 Tuesday thanks to six unearned runs in the fifth. Price ignited the rally with a one-out double.
The series opener was scheduled for a 7 p.m. start, but the pitch came at 8:40 because the day's first three games ran long. There were only 17 hours and 10 minutes between Whitehead's last pitch Tuesday and her first pitch Wednesday.
Whitehead transferred to Kosciusko from Winston Academy for her sophomore year and made a big difference pitching and hitting. “I felt it gave me a better opportunity,” she of her decision to change schools.
“She has been a huge plus for us,” Terry said. “She’s a great pitcher and a good hitter. She has been a fabulous teammate. She fit in with everything we did.”
Senior left fielder Maicee Coleman slides safely into home plate to add another crucial run to Kosciusko’s lead in the contest while her teammates celebrate from the dugout.
Landon Gibson / The Star-Herald
The first game was played before a standing room only crowd. “It was fun,” Terry said. “They had a big crowd, and we had a big crowd. I told the kids, just enjoy the moment. Some people never get the experience. Having this type of crowd in softball is awesome.”
Kosciusko has won three state championships, the first coming in 2018.
“The characteristic of all three is resilience. They never give up,” Terry said.
This year’s team finished 34-4-1, a school record for victories, and had an 18-game winning streak snapped in the 5-4 loss.
The same two teams could hook up in the 2023 championship series. Dickerson, Blaine, Price, Whitehead, Williams, and West are all underclassmen. Sumrall has only one senior, Shows, on the roster.
Terry said a number of his players will play on travel ball teams this summer and that will benefit them and the team. He said, “The more you play the more you learn and get comfortable in situations.
