Lady Wildcats bounced from playoff by Lady Tide

By By Tony Krausz / assistant sports editor
Oct. 15, 2003
Things unraveled for the Meridian High School softball team Tuesday night, after the Lady Wildcats dropped their first game in the second round of the playoffs in the extra innings to the Picayune Lady Tide.
Meridian High fell 5-3 in eight innings in game one of the best-of-three series, and Picayune pounded out 11 runs on 12 hits in the bottom of the first inning of game two en route to a five-inning, 17-5 win at Northeast Park.
Meridian High battled back from a 2-1 deficit to take a slim 3-2 lead in the fourth inning of the first game.
Lady Wildcats left-center fielder Carsheena Blanks led off the fourth reaching first on an error by the Tide's second baseman, and right-center fielder Tiffany Hickman followed with a single to put runners on first and second. Following a fly out, Meridian High first baseman Amber Fellon drew a walk to load the base.
Lady Wildcats catcher Lainie Simcox brought Blanks home with a single to left to tie the game at two, and pinch hitter Abby Hawkins drove in Hickman with a sacrifice fly to right field for a one-run lead.
Picayune's Hope Guadry tied the game at three in top of the sixth.
Amanda Feely powered a second-pitch offering over the right-center field wall for the Waves to lead of the eighth inning.
Picayune tallied another run on a sacrifice fly to take a two-run lead, and Meridian High was unable to score another run in the bottom of the eighth.
The Waves sent 16 batters to the plate in the opening inning of game two, with 13 players reaching base on one triple, two doubles, nine singles and one error.
Picayune added one run in the second and two runs in the third to take a 14-0 advantage.
The Lady Wildcats shortstop Artesian Boyd led off the fourth with a double, and she scored on a double-play ground out by Blanks.
Meridian High also added runs on an RBI double from Fellon and a one-run single by Simcox to reduce Picayune's lead to 14-3.
The Waves answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth to hold a 17-3 advantage.
Meridian High scored two runs in the game's final inning on an error and a sacrifice fly before a fly out to right field ended the game.