RIDGELAND — Read, react, win.
Shalaria Pickens has helped that become a simple formula the past three years for the Wayne County High School fast-pitch softball team.
With Ravean Matthews and Pickens as the table-setters at the top of the Lady War Eagles’ lineup, speed is a weapon. Pressure is the byproduct.
Pickens showed Saturday how deadly that weapon can be coupled with the right attitude.
One half inning after crashing through the collapsable outfield fence and crashing into the metal bleachers behind it, Pickens’ speed helped her reach on an infield single and then score on a single by Jade Albritton in the bottom of the seventh inning to lead Wayne County to a 4-3 victory against New Hope and a sweep of their Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A State title series.
Wayne County (22-9-1) beat New Hope (27-6-1) 14-4 on Friday night to set the stage for its third consecutive state crown. Seniors Pickens, Matthews, Albritton, and pitcher Paxton Luke all played key roles in the latest championship on a day where nothing came easily for either team.
“(Speed) probably was the difference, but hats off to New Hope,” Wayne County coach Eric Neel said. “For a team to get beat like they did last night and pretty much outplay us for probably five of the seven innings all day, they’re pitching was great. They had some great at-bats.
“Pressure gets on a lot of folks. That is probably what happened as the end result. Shalaria and Ravean, that is pressure. You bobble it and they’re safe. It causes people to rush throws and all of those things. There really is no answer to that. It is not a deal that New Hope couldn’t get it done. That is a tough play. I thought it made the difference, even in at-bats because they don’t want to walk them. Overall, hats off to New Hope because not a lot of teams would have come back with that effort in that situation.”
New Hope was one out from forcing extra innings when Pickens’ speed took center stage. One pitch after she hit a bouncing ball down the third-base line that went foul, she tapped a pitch from D.J. Sanders in front of the plate. Sanders fielded the ball, but Pickens used her speed to beat the throw, and then went to second when the ball got away from first baseman Erin Stanfield. The Lady Trojans intentionally walked Luke, who had hit the ball hard in her first three at-bats, to bring up Albritton. The left-handed hitting designated player had a bloop RBI single in the third.
She went with a 1-0 pitch and lined a single to left field that sent Pickens off to the races.
Pickens said she knew New Hope would try to throw her out at home, so she knew she had to read the ball and to react as quickly as possible. Ashley Reed fielded the ball cleanly and had a strong bouncing throw to the plate, but Pickens slid in safely as catcher Kasey Stanfield fielded the ball.
“I didn’t have any doubts. I knew I was going to be there,” Pickens said. “I was running as hard as I could. I knew I was going to get there. (Coach Neel) didn’t wave me. I wasn’t looking. I was determined to get home. It didn’t matter then. I was going to get there either way.”
Pickens had the same attitude on defense in the top half of the inning. With two outs, she raced to her left in pursuit of a double by Lauren Holifield and crashed through the temporary fence and landed stomach first on the metal bleachers behind it.
“I wasn’t really expecting it,” Pickens said. “I thought it was going over and I was determined to get the ball. We had a word this year — finish — and I was determined to finish the play. I tried not to let it get away from me. I wasn’t expecting the bleachers to be there. No matter what I was going to try to get it.”
Pickens said she didn’t remember what happened after she pushed through the temporary fence and dove head first into the bleachers. She said the only thing she recalled was “laying (on the bleachers) being in shock.” After several minutes and being attended to by game management personnel, Pickens got up and walked back to center field. She said there was no doubt she was going to stay in the game.
“That was a dangerous situation, and she is that kind of kid who is going to play that hard all the time,” Neel said. “That is the reason we have won three (state titles) in a row. You got leadership like that, and she has done that since the 10th grade, and it is amazing.”
Neel said his heart was in his throat when he saw the Pickens crash into the metal bleachers behind the temporary fence. He said he was “highly upset” the bleachers were as close as they were and he wanted to know why.
As for Pickens, Neel said she is “ultimate competitor” and has been the example that has helped lift the level of play of her teammates. He said Pickens is the most competitive player he has coached.
“I think it is something she was born with, and I think it is something that is going to help her for the next four years,” Neel said.
Pickens will play at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, while Luke and Matthews will play at Jones County Junior College and Albritton will play at East Mississippi C.C.
With Holifield, who stopped at second base after Pickens crashed through the fence, in scoring position, Luke retired Kaitlin Bradley on a 2-1 flyball to center field to end the threat. Luke allowed only two hits in the final three innings. Both were doubles with two outs that the Lady Trojans couldn’t convert.
“It was definitely better than (Friday night),” New Hope coach Tabitha Beard said. “We stepped up defensively and D.J. and Lauren settled down a little bit on the mound and cut out the walks. They did a good job. I was proud of them.”
After Holifield worked out of trouble in the first to strand two, New Hope took a 1-0 lead on a home run by Kasey Stanfield in the second. It looked like Saturday had the potential to be a new day, as someone shouted from the section of New Hope fans, as the Lady Trojans tried to build their lead in the third. Holifield doubled and went to third on an outfield throwing error. Bradley followed with an infield single and stole second, but catcher Jordynne Grimes’ throw to third baseman Shabria Slater caught Holifield off the base for the second out. Sanders followed with a single that scored Bradley, but she was thrown out at second base.
Wayne County cut the lead in half in the bottom half of the inning. Matthews reached on an infield slap, stole second, and went to third on long flyball out by Luke that Reed caught by reaching over the fence. Albritton followed with a bloop single down the right-field line.
New Hope made it 3-1 in the fourth when Anna McCrary reached on an error, went to second on a single by Kaitlin Oswalt, and scored on pinch hitter Mackenzie Harvey’s single. The throw from the outfield to Grimes was in plenty of time to retire McCrary, but Grimes couldn’t hold it. New Hope could have had more, but R.J. James was called out at first on close play to end the inning.
Wayne County tied the game in the fourth thanks to some two-out magic. Reid Cooley doubled to start the inning and moved to third on a bloop single behind shortstop by Slater. Slater moved to second on a sacrifice and Holifield struck out Katie Bunch for the second out. But Matthews, a left-handed hitting slapper, singled off Holifield’s glove to make it 3-2. Pickens’ infield single up the middle tied the game, but Matthews, who had stolen second, was thrown out at home by Sanders.
That was one of the only times in the two games that Wayne County’s speed didn’t create something positive. Pickens, who also can slap from the left side, said it didn’t take any time for the Lady War Eagles to learn to use their speed to their advantage. She said it is a “mind thing” and that “you have to want it, and I want to make my speed faster.”
Speed has been a key part of Wayne County’s past three state titles. It wasn’t much of a factor in March when Wayne County and New Hope played to a 2-2 tie in eight innings at the Clarkdale tournament. The Lady Trojans negated the Lady Ware Eagles’ speed that day by keeping Matthews and Pickens off the bases. Sanders said New Hope tried to do the same thing Saturday but couldn’t do it.
“We try to practice stuff like that, but we don’t really have girls with that kind of speed,” Sanders said. “You always have to keep in mind that even though you might be getting them out in practice, there is a little difference between the girls who are running in practice and the girls who are going to be out here. We tried. It will be a lot easier if we had more practice at it, but we will get there.”
Neel said freshmen Hannah Hoze and Quanesha Laster and sophomore Gabby Franklin could be the ones who take the places of Matthews and Pickens as the Lady War Eagles’ next rally-starters on the bases. Their speed could help the Lady War Eagles make up for the loss of four key seniors.
New Hope, which was looking to win its first fast-pitch state title, will move on without McCray, the team’s only senior. The center fielder said she was proud of the way the Lady Trojans regrouped after losing by 10 runs Friday night.
“We came out today to play,” McCrary said. “Last night they stomped us. Today, we came to play Lady Trojan softball.
“They’re a great team. We’re a great team. I am proud I could end my whole Lady Trojan career on a good note. We tried. We gave it everything. We had heart. That is all that matters. I am just glad we ended it on something we knew we had.”
For Pickens, the ending was sweet, even if she was walking a little slowly after the game. She said she will continue to utilize the aggressive mind-set and that she is confident the returning players will continue the tradition of reading, reacting, and winning.
“We shake them up a lot with our speed,” Pickens said. “They’re always trying to beat us with the ball, but they’re so worried about getting the ball to the base that they don’t take time to think about it.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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