PURVIS – Good teams find a way to win when things don’t look good, and by any measure, Purvis is a good team in softball.
The Tornadoes proved that again Thursday night, coming from behind to defeat Poplarville 5-3 in the opening game of the Class 4A South State championship series at the Purvis High Softball Field.
Purvis (26-3) is one win away from its first trip to the MHSAA State Championships, scheduled for Southern Miss next week. Poplarville (17-11) must win Game 2 Friday at home to force a deciding third game back at Purvis on Saturday.
“They never quit, they never give in,” said Lindsey Robertson, who has the Tornadoes thinking big in her first full season as head coach.
“They find a way to win. It’s resiliency. We’ve been working hard since August, and the girls have bought into the new system we’ve put in.”
Purvis found a way with a four-run rally in the bottom of the sixth inning, all coming after two were out, to turn a 3-1 deficit into the victory.
“Every time you go up to the plate, you have a job to do, which is to get on base any way you can,” said Purvis junior Allee Williamson. “We’d been down two runs for two innings. We needed to get something going.”
The Hornets got on the scoreboard first, with an unearned run in the top of the first inning off Tornado starter Chelsea Regan.
With one out, Poplarville junior Shailey Peterson reached on an error, took second on a single by freshman Makenzie Picasso and scored on a two-out RBI single by junior Chloe Guidry.
Purvis answered right back in the bottom of the inning in similar fashion.
Williamson drew a walk, then went to second when Regan singled just inside the rightfield line behind first base. She scored on a bloop single to leftfield off the bat of junior Brooxie Shepherd.
Purvis had two runners on with only one out, but Hornet sophomore Lindsey Lee wriggled off the hook with a strikeout and a flyout.
Regan pitched around a two-out triple in the second inning, then the Hornets got a pair of singles in the third, but failed to score. However, she ran into trouble in the fourth, when Poplarville regained the lead with two runs.
“We had played them before, earlier in the season, and I think maybe they knew what to expect from me,” said Regan. “But I knew any of our other pitchers could come in at any point and help when I’m not 100 percent.”
Two walks proved costly for Regan, as both runners scored after getting a free pass. Senior Lily Tynes walked to lead off the fourth, and was sacrificed over by freshman Alexis Peters.
With a base open, Purvis elected to intentionally walk leadoff hitter junior Addy Alexander. Regan got a second out on a popup behind first base, but the next two pitches ended up in leftfield for RBI singles from Picasso and junior Daphne Rohrbacher.
Poplarville had a chance to get more, with runners at second and third, but Regan got a groundout to end the inning. In four innings, Regan allowed seven hits, struck out three and walked three.
When the fifth inning began, Robertson turned freshman Jadie Byrd in the circle.
“To be honest, we have four pitchers that I totally trust in any situation,” Robertson said. “I felt like it was time for a change. I could see they were timing up Chelsea’s pitches, and my thinking is when you have four good ones, why not use them.”
Byrd’s job was simple: Keep Poplarville at three runs. And Byrd did just that, giving the Tornadoes three innings of hitless relief, pitching around a baserunner in all three innings.
“My favorite place to be is under pressure,” said Byrd. “I love being in the circle helping my team win any way I can, and letting my defense work behind me.”
It might not have mattered, as Lee found ways to keep Purvis off the scoreboard after the first inning. The Tornadoes put a runner on base in the second and third innings, and two runners on in the fourth and fifth. But none of them got past second base.
“We had some difficulty with her adjusting at the plate,” said Robertson. “But we finally got it figured out and squared some balls up.”
The Tornadoes’ decisive sixth-inning rally began inauspiciously, when junior Hattie Tynes’ screaming line drive on Lee’s first pitch of the inning found the glove of Rohrbacher at third base.
But freshman Karmyn Sanders drew a four-pitch walk, and pinch-runner Lakelyn Gray, a seventh-grader, took second on a groundout to third.
Freshman Lily Reynolds, in the leadoff spot in the batting order, singled up the middle to drive in Gray to make the score 3-2, and Reynolds took second on the throw to the plate from the outfield.
Williamson drew a walk, then Regan smacked a ground ball into the hole at shortstop that should have been the third out, but the throw sailed over the first baseman’s head, allowing the tying run to score and putting runners at the corners.
“I wouldn’t have beaten it out,” said Regan. “But you have to play the game based on the position of the infielders, and if you hustle, good things happen for the team.”
Purvis applied the dagger when Shepherd beat out an infield single to drive in the go-ahead run, and a passed ball allowed an insurance run to score.
Buoyed with the lead, Byrd got two quick outs, then hit a batter, but nailed it down with a groundout for the final out.
“Every time after I get the sign, I take a second to breathe and think about what I need to do to keep from giving them a free base,” said Byrd. “I just take it one pitch at a time.”
Friday’s second game in the series is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday.
“I’m happy with how tonight went,” said Robertson. “But tomorrow is a new day.”
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