NEL tumbles to New Hope in 4A finals

By By Rocky Higginbotham / special to The Star
Nov. 1, 2002
JACKSON For a second straight year, Northeast Lauderdale's slow-pitch softball team made it to the Class 4A state championship series.
And for the second straight year, the Lady Trojans were swept by top-ranked New Hope. But Northeast head coach Chris Harper held his head high when leaving the V.A. Fields here Thursday afternoon.
At the same time, Harper acknowledged what many Northeast fans may have been feeling. The Lady Trojans have had their best two seasons in school history finishing 28-10 this year and were state runnerup each time.
Hardly. The Lady Trojans from Lowndes County finished 34-2 and spent all but one week on top of the statewide poll.
NEL loses four seniors: Raleigh Odom, Lauren Webb, Daniel McCoy and Blair Rawson.