By Staff
CELEBRATION Clarkdale's Ashley Satcher, top photo, holds up the Class 2A/1A state championship trophy as her teammates join in the celebration Sunday afternoon. Photo by Carisa McCain/The Meridian Star
By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
May 6, 2002
JACKSON Heart.
It comes in mighty handy after you've just lost a hard game on a hot afternoon and then have to play your third game of the day with a state championship at stake.
Consider Newton County and Clarkdale full of heart, although Amory and Mooreville might call them heartbreakers.
Both area teams won Mississippi High School Activities Association state fast-pitch softball championships late Sunday afternoon and both probably slept well Sunday night after a full day's work.
Newton County knocked off defending state champion Amory for the Class 3A title, while Clarkdale bested Mooreville for the Class 2A championship.
Clarkdale and Newton County both won their first game in their respective best-of-three series only to lose their second game. Yet both righted themselves in time on a hot, muggy afternoon at the V.A. Fields to leave as state champs.
Clarkdale blanked Mooreville 2-0, while Newton County rallied from a 3-1 hole to beat Amory 5-3.
For Newton County, the Lady Cougars became just the second MHSAA member to win state championships in both fast-pitch and slow-pitch in the same school year.
Newton County previously won the 2000 fast-pitch state title with its slow-pitch team also winning the 1992 state crown.
For Clarkdale, the first fast-pitch program in this part of the state, it was the Lady Bulldogs' first state championship in that event. Clarkdale won slow-pitch state championships in 1995, 1996, and 1997.