Knights sweep Indians in 4A finals

HATTIESBURG – In a battle between very familiar foes, West Lauderdale was a little bit better.

The Knights beat Itawamba AHS 5-3 to complete a two-game sweep of the MHSAA Class 4A state championship series on Friday at Southern Miss. This is the fourth straight year these teams have faced off in the playoffs, including last season’s quarterfinals, which IAHS won en route to its first state title.

“It’s two good teams, knew we were going to be in a dogfight with them – we have been for the last four years. They outplayed us,” Itawamba coach Jeffrey Mann said.

After dropping Game 1 by a 3-1 score, the Indians (31-6-1) found themselves trailing by that exact tally after four innings Friday. But they managed to tie it in the fifth thanks to a West Lauderdale error and Mia Martin’s sac fly.

But in the top of the seventh, Addison Cornish and Aubri Cooper both hit solo home runs. IAHS put two runners on base with one out in the bottom half, and so the winning run was at the plate in the form of slugger Kooper Reese. She flied out to right field, and the runner from first base was cut down at second to end the game.

The Indians finished with seven hits but could not string anything together on either day. They stranded seven runners in Game 2.

“We couldn’t get several hits back to back. We had some runners on base all day but couldn’t get the big hit to get them in,” Mann said.

West Lauderdale (37-5) struck in the first inning on Cooper’s RBI groundout, and Sara Grace Robison’s sac fly in the third made it 2-0. Itawamba got one back in the bottom of that inning on Reese’s RBI single.

Cornish made it 3-1 in the fourth with a sac fly. The senior finished the day with two hits and two RBIs, and she earned the win in relief.

Cornish, who was named series MVP, said her team never lost confidence after Itawamba’s rally.

“We can never get down on ourselves, because that’s the time you slip up,” she said. “We just stayed confident throughout the whole thing, and we got it done.”

The Knights finished with nine hits.

Extra Bases

Big Inning: Cornish led off the seventh with a blast to deep left, and then Cooper homered two batters later.

Big Stat: West Lauderdale had at least one hit in each inning.

Coach Speak: “We’ve built a standard for Itawamba softball. We’re definitely on the map.” – Mann