“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
— 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, from the Holy Bible, New International Version
—
Stay Strong was more than a phrase written in black ink on a fluorescent green-yellow piece of poster board for Lanoria Abrams, Alex Melton, and the rest of the New Hope High School slow-pitch softball team on Tuesday night.
Spaced around a cross, the words #StayStrong, #Pray4KDMT, and 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 were written to remind the Lady Trojans about their friends and classmates who were injured in a car accident on Highway 82 East on Saturday.
The New Hope players had additional reminders of their friends written on taped wrists and other parts of their uniforms to give them sources of strength for their best-of-three Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 5A-6A first-round playoff series against Columbus.
Abrams, Melton, and the rest of the Lady Trojans made their friends proud with an effort that included some big blows at the plate and some timely pitching and defense, which has been a New Hope trademark throughout the years.
Abrams threw out a runner at home from left-center field to help stop a rally and then hit a home run, while Melton stayed in control in the circle and added a home run to help New Hope beat Columbus 16-12 and 15-7.
With the victories, New Hope, the Region 1 champion, will advance to face Region 3 winner Warren Central, on Saturday in a best-of-three series in Vicksburg.
“I am proud of them,” said New Hope coach Bobby Taylor, who believes his team improved to 16-11 with the wins. “The last seven or eight games we have come from behind, scored, stayed with teams, and went ahead. I think it is the sign of a pretty good team.”
Taylor admitted he wasn’t sure if New Hope was going to qualify for the playoffs, but he said his team started to turn the corner when it beat Tupelo twice to secure a postseason berth. On Sunday, though, he wasn’t sure how his team was going to respond after his players came to practice visibly shaken by the news that their friends and classmates had been thrown from a silver Toyota that ran off Highway 82 East on Saturday evening and rolled multiple times. Authorities confirmed Tuesday morning that a 15-year-old girl injured in the accident was flown to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, where she was on life support.
Two 17-year-old males were airlifted from the scene to North Mississippi Medical Center in Tupelo. They were listed in stable condition earlier Tuesday. The driver, 18-year-old Tyler Coleman, was listed in stable conditions, according to a report Tuesday morning.
That news was on the minds of the New Hope players later in the day, but Abrams said she did her best to use it as motivation so she could do her best to help them.
There was no better example than the bottom of the sixth inning in Game 2. Trailing 11-4, Columbus rallied for three runs and looked to add more thanks to a single by Sakiya Wilson. But Abrams charged in from left-center field and used the training she and the New Hope outfielders get in their “do-or-die” defensive drills. She fielded the ball and delivered a one-hop throw to catcher Meredith Woolbright to erase the runner at home and end the threat.
“That was a big play,” Taylor said. “We practice that stuff all of the time.”
Abrams said she heard her teammates yelling, “Go four,” so she did her best to throw a strike to Woolbright. She knew when she released the ball that she had a chance to cut down the runner at the plate.
“I watched it all the way in to make sure I had it,” Abrams said. “I was just trying to get it there. I just had to do it and couldn’t hesitate.”
Abrams punctuated the defensive play with a solo home run to lead off the seventh inning. She started deep in the right batter’s box and moved forward as the pitch came toward her. She angled her body and launched the ball high over the fence in right-center field.
Abrams said she was trying to go with the pitch and put into practice something she has been working on with her coaches. The approach worked as she started deep in the batter’s box and walked up and smacked one deep into the night.
“I wasn’t trying to hit the home run,” Abrams said. “I was just trying to get a basehit, but it just went. When I hit it, it felt like it was a good, solid hit.”
The home run was one of two in the Lady Trojans’ 17-hit attack in Game 2. Aubri Boulds and McKenzie Henry had three hits, while Kylie Cox, Abrams, Kerrington Bradford, and Tamia Boulds had two.
In Game 1, New Hope had six of its 12 hits in a six-run sixth inning that helped put the game away. The Lady Trojans capitalized on 11 errors by the Lady Falcons. The big blow was a grand slam by Cox in the sixth. Abrams’ double in the inning was New Hope’s only other extra-base hit of the game.
Meanwhile, Columbus hit five home runs in the game, but it couldn’t sustain its offense after scoring five runs in the top of the first. Aniya Saddler hit the first pitch of the game over the left-field fence to get the Lady Falcons started. Kiara Conner and Quasha Wilson also hit home runs, while Keayra Hughes hit two and added a double.
But Melton, a junior right-hander, overcame the blasts and plenty of distractions to pitch the Lady Trojans through both games.
“It was a lot of pressure,” Melton said.
Taylor said he wasn’t sure Melton was going to be the team’s pitcher until the second game of the season. Since then, he said Melton has done the job and kept a lot of teams, particularly Tupelo, off balance with control and by mixing her spins.
Melton admitted that all of her pitches weren’t working as well as she would have liked, but she said she stayed in command because that’s what her friends and classmates would have told her to do.
“We dedicated this game to the four kids in the car accident,” Melton said. “I was playing for them, and I was trying to give my all for them. I thought about them and told myself not to give up. I thought they are in a bed trying to fight for their lives and we are out here, so we had to give it our all.”
Melton admits she isn’t the perfect pitcher and she has things to work on. She said she will continue to hone her skills and use the encouragement from her grandfather, Wayne Ellis, who used to be a softball coach at New Hope and is now a scorekeeper for the team, to get better.
In addition to working on tuning everything out when she is in the circle, Melton said her hitting is improving, too, as evidenced by her home run.
“That was unexpected,” Melton said. “I have been trying to stay focused. Like I said, I was thinking about the four kids and trying to give it my all for them.
“Just knowing they are laying in a hospital bed fighting for their life, that just pumps us up and makes us want to do something great for them: win a state championship.”
A few months ago, Taylor wasn’t even sure his team was going to make the playoffs. After the team clinched a playoff berth, he said the players took about 45 minutes by themselves Sunday at Lady Trojan Field before they all got up and started practicing. Now, he likes what he sees from the Lady Trojans and hopes they can continue to play their best softball of the season.
“We are peaking at the right time,” Taylor said. “It is a good bunch of kids. We have had a lot of adversity this season, but I think they are getting hot at the right time.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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