By By Marty Stamper / sports writer
June 29, 2002
CLINTON There was no doubt the best slow-pitch seniors in Mississippi for the 2001-02 school year are from Northeast Mississippi after their North team swept the South 6-4 and 10-2 Saturday at Traceway Park in the Mississippi Association of Coaches best-of-three series.
Twelve of the North's 14 players hail from Northeast Mississippi. The lone exceptions were Andra Daniels of Meridian and Jennifer Johnson of Northwest Rankin.
Both teams had 11 hits in the first game. Hayley Scarborough of West Lauderdale and Ginny Dunaway of Brookhaven both had two hits for the South, while Shera Edwards of Tupelo and Sara Beth Lewis of Hatley both had two hits for the North.
The North scored three runs in the bottom of the third inning with Johnson, a Meridian Community College fast-pitch signee, having an RBI-single and Elizabeth Davidson of Columbus adding a single that plated a pair of runs.
Lori Vaughan of Hatley made it 4-0 with a run-scoring single in the fourth.
The South got to within 4-3 in the top of the fifth. Robbi Dampier of Lawrence County led off with a single. After a single by Dunaway, Amber Joyner of West Lauderdale, Kendra Satchfield of St. Martin, and Scarborough all reached on errors.
The North got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI-single by Heather Harris of Amory and a sacrifice fly by Rebekah Crider of Tupelo.
The South got its final run in the sixth as Kenya Smith of Moss Point singled and came home on a single by Holli Bass of West Lincoln.
Johnson was the winning pitcher, going the distance. Brandi Howell of Petal took the loss.
The North outhit the South 17-8 in the second game with North MVP Yolanda Ellis of Columbus and Ashley Wilbanks of Kossuth each getting three hits. Vaughan, Crider, and Davidson each had a pair of hits.
Kendra Satchfield, the South MVP, had two hits to lead her team.
The North struck for four runs in the top of the first inning and steadily pulled away. Ellis had a two-run single with two more runs scoring on an error by the South first baseman.
The South got both of its runs in the bottom of the first. Satchfield and Scarborough led off with singles. Betsy Clark of Newton County had an RBI-single to drive in Satchfield with Scarborough coming across the plate on an error.
Ellis and Wilbanks had RBI-singles in the third frame with Brandi Pierce of Mooreville adding a sacrifice fly for a 7-2 lead.
The final three runs came in the fifth. Wilbanks had an RBI-single with Pierce's single driving in a pair of runs.
Bethany Sherard of Kossuth was the winning pitcher, going the distance. Anna Marsh of St. Andrew's went the distance for the South in a losing effort.