STARKVILLE — After the Hamilton High School fast-pitch softball team beat Myrtle in Game 1 of the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) Class 1A State championship series, Hamilton coach Bryan Loague felt fortunate.
While he was happy with the win, he felt like the Lady Lions would need to do more to win their first state title in the spring sport.
“The top part of the lineup carried us,” Loague said Thursday after a 6-4 win. “The bottom of the lineup didn’t do anything. We got to find a way to correct that. If we don’t have everybody hitting the ball, we aren’t going to win.”
With the best-of-three series stretched to the limit, Hamilton found its offensive production when it needed it the most, as it had 14 hits in an 11-2 victory.
“When everybody on our team hits, we just aren’t going to lose,” Hamilton left fielder Hannah Rooks said. “The best part of this game was jumping out on them 6-0, That told me we were over Friday (a 7-5 loss) and ready to play.”
Hamilton (19-12-1) had at least one hit from the top eight spots in the lineup.
“This is how we have to be successful,” Loague said. “We made the plays defensively. Anna Claire (Stahl) was big on the mound. At the plate, we just kept hitting and hitting. When the other team scores, you have to respond and get those runs back. We were able to do that.
“We had that big inning (a three-run seventh) Thursday, I just felt like we needed more of that. We needed everybody contributing.”
Hamilton scored twice in the second, four times in the third, and five times in the seventh.
The five-run seventh continued a trend where the visiting team scored 11 runs in the top half of the seventh in the series. The visiting team won all three games.
“The big innings have been good to us this year,” Hamilton second baseman Victoria Harrison said. “Normally, when one person hits, it gets everybody going. (Friday) we left too many runners on base. In this game, people were picking up one another. It was great to see.”
Ferraro and Rooks had three hits. Jayden Banks and Kaitlyn Goas had two.
The Lady Lions had five hits from the bottom four spots of the lineup in the first two games of the series. On Saturday, they had eight hits and reached base 10 times.
“Kind of like night and day when we get it going,” Loague said. “Proud of the seventh inning. The pressure starts mounting there when you are in a tight game, so fortunately, we blew it open.”
Kinsley Gordon and Karlie Bolden had two hits for Myrtle (20-7). The Lady Hawks had six hits after touching Stahl for 10 hits Friday.
“We just had to do more,” Harrison said. “That’s what we talked about (after the loss). Nobody was upset because we knew we had one more chance to show what we can do.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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