Unstoppable.
On a day two former softball standouts returned to their stomping ground, the 2011 New Hope High School slow-pitch softball team showed Saturday it has the potential to create some tradition of its own.
Buoyed by a three-home run effort by Lauren Holifield and an offense that scored a run in every inning, New Hope swept Yazoo City 20-0 and 18-2 in the opening round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A North State playoffs.
Holifield, who had six hits on the day, had two home runs and five RBIs in the first game, which went four and a half innings. She added another home run and five more RBIs in the five-inning nightcap. New Hope (21-7) had 37 hits in the doubleheader.
“It’s a step,” New Hope coach Tabitha Beard said. “We did some things really well. We hit the ball really well in spurts. We’re going to have to do better at the plate to get consistent. I like the fact that we let the little girls play some. That’s always good for them to get to experience a playoff game. I am pleased with the overall performance, but we have to keep getting better, and keep wanting to get better.”
New Hope, the two-time defending Class 5A champion, will play the winner of the Neshoba Central-Ridgeland series on Tuesday. New Hope would go to Neshoba Central and would play host to Ridgeland. The time for the best-of-three series is to be determined. The winner of that series will advance to the state title series Saturday at the V.A. Fields in Jackson.
A trip south at this time of the year is something Brandi Brantley, who is at Hinds Community College, and Anna Holley, who is at Itawamba C.C., grew to think was an annual affair. Both players were fixtures in the slow- and fast-pitch programs and played integral roles in helping the Lady Trojans push their number of state titles to 13.
With only two seniors — Anna McCrary and Ashley Byrd — on the roster this season, the Lady Trojans don’t have nearly as much experience as in past seasons. But the players said this year’s team has grown up during the season and has come to understand the significance of the program’s tradition and playing at this time of the year.
“At the beginning of the year, I honestly did not think we were going to get back here,” said Sanders, a sophomore shortstop. “I just felt like the next time we would be able to do that was when (juniors Kasey Stanfield and Holifield) were graduating. We have a lot of good girls, but we didn’t know how it was going to look when it came to this time of the year. But we are all stepping up and it looks really good, so I am really excited about being able to have a chance to go back to state.”
Said Stanfield, “This time of the year it is when the ‘We’re Lady Trojans’ factor comes in. Look at all of the state championship signs we have up (on the outfield wall at Lady Trojan Field). Maybe a lot of us haven’t played in a state championship, but we’re wearing this uniform for a reason. If coach Beard didn’t believe in us, she wouldn’t put us on the field, so it is like we’re going to go out and do what we have to do.”
Beard hopes all of her players dial in to that mind-set. With 17 of the 25 players on the roster in seventh through 10th grade, Beard hopes she can continue to get contributions up and down the lineup and finish the season on a strong note. She said Saturday was a step in that direction considering the team typically sets a goal every game to score in four or five innings of each game.
“We have to realize what we’re working for and the different situations we have when we get there (the V.A. Fields) and when you go other places,” Beard said. “We have to hit the ball level.”
In the first game, Kaitlin Bradley had a triple and two RBIs, D.J. Sanders had three hits (double) and three RBIs, Kasey Stanfield had two hits, Anna McCrary had two hits (double) and two RBIs, Ashley Reed had a hit, Abby Wilson had a single and an RBI, Aryn Prier had a single and an RBI, Taylor Blevins had two hits and an RBI, and Gabby Murray had a hit and two RBIs.
In game two, Bradley had three hits and three RBIs, Sanders had a hit, Kasey Stanfield had two hits and an RBI, McCrary had two hits, Erin Stanfield had three hits and three RBIs, Reed had a single and two RBIs, Alayna Friesen had a hit, Wilson had two hits, and Blevins had two hits and an RBI.
Aliesha Hudson and Pershivia Jones each had a double and an RBI in game two for Yazoo City. The Lady Indians had three hits in the first game and six hits in the second game.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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