The Heritage Academy baseball team won two games in its last at-bat Thursday to sweep a Mississippi Private School Association Class AAA District 1 doubleheader from Jackson Academy.
Heritage Academy (8-9, 5-5 district) won the opener in the bottom of the seventh when Austin Braddock doubled home Mac Thatcher.
The Patriots won the nightcap in the bottom of the seventh when Thatcher, who led off with a double, scored on a throwing error attempting to steal third base.
The victories were the first for Heritage Academy against Jackson Academy since the schools became district opponents in 2004. In the 10 previous games as district opponents, the Patriots were outscored 118-16.
In the opener, Cole Vaughan (3-3) pitched a complete-game three-hitter. He struck out six.
Braddock and Vaughan each had a double, single and RBI, Tyler White had an RBI single, and Lyon Brown, Tyler Marchak, and Arrington Rhett also singled.
In the nightcap, sophomore Camp Pittman didn”t allow a hit in his first start. The Patriots committed three errors that allowed Jackson Academy to score two unearned runs in the first and three unearned runs in the third.
Thatcher doubled and singled, White had two singles, and Vaughan and Joey Kleis added singles.
n Starkville 6, Meridian 4: Jayson Keel was 2-for-2 with three RBIs to help the Yellow Jackets (20-6, 6-3 Class 5A-District 2) rebound from a loss at South Panola on Tuesday.
Despite the victory, Starkville finished third in the district after South Panola beat Tupelo 6-1 on Thursday night.
Daniel Forde earned the victory, and Zach Schurch pitched three shutout innings to get the save.
Starkville plays at Northwest Rankin tonight.
n Pickens Academy 3-4, Escambia Academy 2-3: At Escambia, Ala., the Pickens Academy baseball clinched first place in the Alabama Independent School Association Class AA West Division by sweeping a doubleheader.
Pickens Academy (19-2, 10-1 division) will host an opening-round series in the playoff next Friday.
Chase Davidson (7-0) won game one in relief of starter Tyler Vails.
Vails had an RBI single, Casey Jones had an RBI squeeze bunt single, Holden Miles had a double, and Ben Beasley and Jim Farmer singled.
Bryant Fikes won game two in relief of Davidson.
Farmer (single, two RBIs), Fikes (RBI squeeze bunt single), and Jones, Miles, and Jeremy Pate (singles) led the Pirates.
Softball
n Hamilton 10, Eupora 0, 5 innings: At Eupora, Shelby Savage pitched a complete-game four-hitter to lead the Lady Lions (12-10) in game one of their Class 2A third-round playoff series.
Hamilton will play host to Eupora at 11 a.m. Saturday in game two. Eupora needs to win that game to force a game three.
Hamilton, which scored 20 runs in a victory against Baldwyn on Tuesday, stayed hot at the plate with a four-run third inning and a five-run fifth to help force the mercy rule.
n Central Academy 16, Jackson Academy 6: At Macon, the Central Academy Lady Vikings scored 10 runs in the first inning en route to their mercy rule victory Thursday.
Central Academy (10-2) had 15 hits, led by Kendall Taylor (three singles), Corey Dawkins and Megan Banks (two doubles each), and Alex Dawkins and Hollie Lane (double, single each).
Marion Colvin (10-2) was the winning pitcher.
Track and Field
n Caledonia girls win district title: At Kosciusko, Jessica Comer earned two firsts and Jelisha Hackman added another Thursday to help the Caledonia High School girls track and field team win the Class 4A-District 4 title.
Caledonia, which scored 102 points Tuesday on the meet”s first day, added a better-then-expected performance, according to coach James Reed, to take the title. The Lady Confederates finished with 169 points to beat New Hope (128) and Noxubee County (126).
“We knew we had to get a whole lot of points Tuesday, and we did a whole lot better than we thought Thursday,” Reed said. “The girls pulled together. We thought we were going to get 45-50 points but we got 67. That”s where we”re going to have to be when we go to Pearl (next weekend). We got a little extra (Thursday).”
Comer won the 800 (2 minutes, 28 seconds) and the 1,600 meters (5:42), while Hackman won the 400 (1:01).
Hackman also finished third in the 100 (13.4) and teamed with Anna Comer, Brooke Lester, and Glenda Rhone to take second in the 4×400 relay. The team finished second even though it dropped the baton and had to go back and pick it up and continue the race.
Anna Comer finished third in the 1,600 (6:17), Caitlin Gilbreath took fourth in the 300 hurdles (54.02), and seventh-grader Avery Smith was fourth in the 800 (2:56).
The top four finishers in each event qualified for the regional meet, which will be next Saturday at Pearl High School.
For the boys team, Chris Warren (second in the 1,600), Kevin Kugel (3,200), Alex Sherrod (shot put), and the 4×400 relay team qualified to compete next week.
n Starkville”s Tate wins three individual events: At Tupelo, Starkville High School senior Tavaris Tate won the three sprints and was part of the winning 4×400 relay team Thursday at the Class 5A-District 2 meet at Tupelo High School.
Tate won the 100 (10.57 seconds), 200 (21.39), and the 400 (46.84). He ran the anchor leg on the 4×400 team that finished in 3:32.
Tupelo High”s boys won the meet with 112 points. Starkville took second with 74 and Columbus scored 33 points.
Tupelo”s girls won their half of the meet with 96 points. Starkville was second with 68 and Columbus had 51 points.
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