By CURTIS ROCKWELL

Item Sports Editor

POPLARVILLE — Second ranked Poplarville begins the second round of the class 4A South State prep fast-pitch softball playoffs Saturday.

The Lady Hornets, 23-3 on the season, get to host a doubleheader on Saturday as Vancleave comes calling. The games are set to begin at 1 p.m. The South State semifinals are set to begin on Thursday, with the winner of the Poplarville-Vancleave series taking on the survivor of the Long Beach-East Central series.

Poplarville knocked off Brookhaven in the opening round in two games on Saturday, while the Lady Bulldogs needed three games to beat favored Wayne County and advance. Poplarville head coach Jonathan Ray said that his team hasn’t faced Vancleave in the six years he has been at the helm of the fast-pitch team, but said he was impressed by the Lady Bulldogs pitcher he saw beat the Lady War Eagles on Tuesday.

Megan Ladner, 18-3, will toe the rubber for the Lady Hornets. She is one of three seniors for the Lady Hornets.

Pacing Poplarville at the plate this season has been Paige Miller, Chelsea Theriot and Micah Davis all of whom are hitting around .450.