French Camp had a tough loss to East Webster and two easy wins against Noxapater last week. After an 8-5 loss to East Webster, the Panthers defeated Noxapater 14-0 and 26-10.
The wins over Noxapater evened the French Camp record in Region 5-1A play at 2-2.
“We would just like to get to a happy, consistent place,” said Coach Nathan Wright. “We haven’t been able to get there. We will play really well. Then we will play really bad. I’d be happy if we could just sort of fall in the middle.”
The Panthers combined six hits and eight walks to score 14 runs in the first Noxapater game. Colin Perry had a single and double, drove in a run and scored one.
Holman Edwards had four RBIs; Logan Burchfield and Jacob Smiley had two each. John Weeks pitched a five-inning one-hitter with eight strikeouts.
Weeks, Perry and Phillip Lucas all had big games at the plate in the 26-10 win that featured seven runs in the first inning, six in the fourth and eight in the fifth.
Weeks and Perry both went five for five and walked once. Weeks had two doubles, three RBIs and scored four times. Perry drove in five runs and scored three.
“Five for five is rare. To have two in one game is something else,” Wright said.
Lucas had a home and two singles, with four RBIs and three runs scored.
Clayton Leathers had two hits and Javen Anderson drove in two runs in the loss to East Webster.
Weeks is the Panthers’ leading hitter with a .500 average. Perry is batting .361, Leathers .357 and Edwards .304. On the mound, Weeks is 2-2 with a 1.72 ERA and 35 strikeouts in 20.1 innings. Seth Box is 3-1 with a 2.93 ERA and 21 strikeouts in 14.1 innings.
French Camp was set to host Ethel Tuesday and will be at the Tigers Friday. Those games will likely determine second- and third-place in 5-1A behind defending state champion Nanih Waiya.
The top four teams from the region advance to the MHSAA 1A playoff. They will play best-of-three series against teams from Region 8-1A in South Mississippi, beginning April 19.
