PETAL – The defending state champs certainly looked the part on Tuesday night as Petal run-ruled rival Oak Grove 13-3 in five innings.
As much of a cliché as it might be, first-year coach Shelly Flood is adamant that her team takes it one game at a time. Yet there is some credence as the Lady Panthers, who are now 10-4, lost seven seniors while former head coach Wendy Hogue retired from the sport.
“We have talked about it in a way, with that was last year,” Flood said. “We lost seven seniors. It’s a brand-new team with the same mentality. It’s the same effort going out and the same expectation with some young kids to do it with.
“Following in Wendy (Hogue’s) footsteps has been a little pressure at first, but I felt pretty prepared for it. I learned from the best.”
Unlike last season where the Lady Panthers rode the incredible arm of Natalie Herrington, Flood expects teams to hit them. However, freshman pitcher Jayla Weathersby and the Petal lineup meshed perfectly. Weathersby allowed one earned run off seven hits, walked three batters, and struck out four while the lineup featured every hitter reaching base at least once.
“We talk about it a lot, but it’s one game at a time and not to look ahead of anything,” Flood said. “It’s taking advantage of what we are good at. People are going to hit us. We don’t have Natalie like we had last year. We don’t have the speed, but we have the movement and the confidence. (Teams) are going to hit, but we just have to play defense.
“(Jayla’s) a freshman and is super tough. Nothing gets in her head. Even in games where teams have had tons of hits off her, she never changes her demeanor. She’s going to be very big in a couple of years. What feels good about tonight was there was a couple of kids that hadn’t been playing much that are good enough to be playing…it’s a good feeling to have some depth at some different positions with young kids.”
Petal got on the board with a 3-run inning in the second after Abby Shows hit an RBI double, with Kamryn Lofton following with an RBI triple. The Lady Panthers added one more run on a fielder’s choice.
Oak Grove got a run back with a solo home run from Jalia McDaniel to narrow the score to 3-1. Yet the Lady Warriors’ momentum began to fall apart as Oak Grove committed five errors, four of which came after the third inning.
Petal extended its lead with a 3-run inning in the bottom of the third with two runs scoring on an error, while Layla Brock drove in another run with an RBI single to go up 6-1.
“We are young,” Oak Grove coach Benjy Hornsby said. “Pitching was a lot better. We only gave up three walks. It was a huge improvement from two weeks ago, but when we produce ground balls and pop flies, we have to make routine plays. That’s the bottom line, and we have to hit better too.
“Errors (came) at the wrong time. We have been good for a while, but we are rebuilding this year. We have to make the basic plays.”
Oak Grove (3-9, 0-1) again answered in the fourth inning as Weathersby struggled as she committed an error, gave up a single, and then hit two batters and walked in another, which scored a pair of runs for the Lady Warriors.
(The home run) always picks you up,” Hornsby said. “Then you battle back and make it 6-3. If we can get out of the next inning, we made two errors in a bad moment with two outs, so everything we scored after that was unearned, but if we get out that, we are right back in the ball game. We have to hurry up and bounce back.”
Petal then broke the game open in the fourth inning with a 7-run inning.
“We talked about at practice how we started Chapter 2 of our season,” Flood said. “Chapter 1 is over. Nothing we did at that point matters too much other than preparing us for today. We started Chapter 2 with a big win. I said let’s make a statement, and let’s set the tone.”
