Ethel swept two baseball games with French camp last week, 2-0 and 10-3, to finish 10-0 as Region 5-1A champion.
The first game was a pitchers' duel between seniors Kameron McCuller of Ethel and Cody Perry for French Camp. Both allowed three hits and fanned five. The outcome was decided by two unearned runs in the sixth.
“There were two good pitchers battling it out,” said Ethel coach Chris Schuster. “It was unfortunate for Perry that they had a couple of errors, and we were able to take advantage of it.”
A single by McCuller, two walks, an error and a wild pitch resulted in the two runs, both coming with two outs.
A big play came in the first inning. French Camp leadoff batter Chares Bentley reached on an error but was thrown out trying to steal second by Ethel catcher Brady White. “That kind of gave us the momentum,” Schuster said.
Kaden Adams went six innings in the 10-3 game, allowing two hits and one earned run, with seven strikeouts.
Ethel broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the second. Tyler Weaver drew a leadoff walk, took second on a passed ball and scored on a single by Gabe Cain, who stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out by Adams.
The Tigers broke the game open with four runs in the seventh on a leadoff homer by Wes Bishop, a two-run double by Hayden Langford and a run scoring single by Brady White.
Cain had three hits, three RBI and scored twice. Langford and White both had two hits, Langford with three RBIs and White with two. Bentley had a single and triple, scored two runs and plated one for French Camp.
The twin victories stretched Ethel's winning streak to 13. “It's definitely an Ethel baseball record and probably an Ethel all sports record,” Schuster said.
Ethel closed out the regular season Tuesday against Choctaw County for Senior Night and will begin the 1A playoffs Friday with a home game against South Delta. French Camp finished third in the region with a 6-4 record and will begin the playoffs on the road against Bay Springs.
