The 2018 softball season came to a heartbreaking end for Ethel last week, as the Lady Tigers dropped two one-run decisions to Vardaman in the third round of the MHSAA Class 1A state playoffs.
Ethel fell 12-11 in eight innings at Vardaman on Monday, then dropped a 7-6 decision in Game 2 of the best-of-three series at home Tuesday night.
The Lady Tigers finished the season with an 18-9 record, while Vardaman moved on to face Hamilton in the South State championship series last week.
Ethel pounded out 18 hits in the gut-wrenching loss at Vardaman Monday, but managed just eight on Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers grabbed a four-run lead early and stretched it to 10-5 after scoring four more times in the top of the fourth inning on Monday.
But the host Lady Rams scored six times in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead, and after Ethel tied it in the fifth, Vardaman pushed across the winning run in the eighth after the game went to extra innings.
Sidney Rone was 4-for-5 with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBIs to lead Ethel, while Madison Odom, Kambrie Hodges and Breanna Blaine all had three hits.
Blaine scored three runs, Hodges had two RBIs and Odom had two runs and one RBI.
Emily Mitchell had two hits and two runs scored; Jessica Mitchell had a single, double and three RBIs; Brooklyn Pitt had a single; and Haley Wiegel had an RBI.
Jessica Mitchell was the losing pitcher in relief of Hodges. Both threw parts of four-plus innings in the defeat.
On Tuesday, it was Vardaman which jumped to the early 4-0 lead in the top of the first.
Down 5-2, Ethel stormed back with four runs in the home half of the sixth inning – only to see the Lady Rams score two unearned runs in the top of the seventh for the winning margin.
Jessica Mitchell had three hits, three RBIs and a run scored and Emily Mitchell had two hits and two runs in the loss.
