The Pillow Academy and Carroll Academy girls fast-pitch softball teams are headed to Magee this weekend for their respective state tournaments.
The Lady Mustangs will be playing in the State 4A Tournament as they take on Hillcrest Christian, the top seed from the South, at noon Saturday. Pillow is the fourth seed from the North.
The Lady Rebels qualified for the State 3A Tournament as the fourth seed from the North and play at 1 p.m. Saturday against South No.1 Clinton Christian.
nPillow Academy: The Lady Mustangs went 2-2 this past weekend at the North 4A Tournament in Senatobia. Pillow is 14-12 overall.
“We have three teams from the North representing our conference this weekend,” said PA head coach Jud Thigpen. “We’ve had our ups and downs this season, but our younger girls really started coming together late in the season. They have kept playing hard, and we knew good things could happen.”
Pillow lost a tight 3-2 contest to East Rankin in its first game last Saturday, The Lady Mustangs rebounded to beat Heritage 10-5 and knocked off Washington School 9-5 in their third game. They ran into East Rankin again on Monday and lost 7-1, which eliminated them from the tournament.
Win or lose their first game Saturday, the Lady Mustangs will play at 4 against either Bayou Academy, the North second seed, or Hartfield, the third seed from the South.
Thigpen said that senior Austin Alex Mitchell has been selected to play in the all-star game on Oct. 9 at Jackson Prep.
nCarroll Academy: The Lady Rebels also went 2-2 at the North 3A Tournament over the weekend at Lee Academy in Clarksdale.
Carroll, 8-17 overall, came together at the right time as it rallied from a first-game loss (10-0) to Marshall to beat Kirk 22-13 and Central Holmes 8-3.
The Lady Rebels then dropped a 12-10 decision to Winona Christian on Monday.
“Our girls played with so much more confidence this past weekend. We really had been playing much better the last few weeks of the season. After we came back from that loss to Marshall, we beat Kirk and Central Holmes. They were the top team in our conference, but our girls outplayed them,” said CA head coach Zach Whitfield.
“We have two seniors on this team who have stepped up and led us. Mary Jordan Milton and Sara Austin Welch have shown great leadership, and the younger girls have improved so much since the beginning of the season.”
Should Carroll win its first game, it would play at 5 p.m. Saturday against the winner of the Lee (North 2)-Bowling Green (South 3) contest.
If they lose their first game, the Lady Rebels play the loser at 7 p.m.
