Picayune head softball coach Kristie Mitchell must have gotten at least a small smirk on her face when she realized that her young Lady Tide team would face a D’Iberville squad in the first round of the Class 4A South State slow pitch playoffs that they had already beat twice this season.
On Wednesday, her squad gave her even more reason to smile.
The Lady Tide swept two straight games from the host Lady Warriors in the opening round best of three series, winning 5-1 and 7-4 to advance to the second round of the playoffs.
Picayune, now 19-7 on the season, will host Lawrence County on Saturday at a time yet to be determined.
“Even though we are young, I have a lot of confidence in this team when they come to play and they did tonight,” Mitchell said, after the win.
The Lady Tide trailed most of the first game, but rallied to put all five of their runs on the scoreboard in the fifth inning to pull out the win.
Brandi Rabion, Tiffany Reed and Taylor Seals each had a pair of hits apiece for the Lady Tide in the win in the first game.
“I tell them if we do all the little things right then the big things will work when we need it,” Mitchell added.
In game two, Rabion again had two hits while Hillary Dickens and Mallorie Mixon each added a pair of hits as well in the win.
The game was more of a back and forth affair, and each team took the lead twice early before Picayune came back and grabbed the advantage for good in the fourth inning and added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth to seal the win.
Dickens picked up both wins on the pitching bump for Picayune.
“Defensively we looked a lot better than we have recently and that was important,’ Mitchell added. “But we are young and we have to work on having that killer instinct to put teams away.”
The Lady Tide will host a LCHS team that swept West Lauderdale 10-6 and 8-4 in the first round. The Lady Cougars eliminated Poplarville from the playoffs last year.
And speaking of Poplarville, the Lady Hornets will also be in action on Saturday as they travel to Quitman for a second round series after beating East Central at home on Tuesday in first round action in the playoffs.