In high school sports action this week, Caledonia’s volleyball team grabbed two wins over the weekend in a Tupelo tournament and then earned a region win. New Hope also played in the same tournament then captured a region victory. In softball, Oak Hill Academy and Starkville Academy both suffered district losses as their regular seasons begin to wind down.
Volleyball
Caledonia’s volleyball team ended a two-game losing streak on Saturday with two consecutive wins in a volleyball tournament hosted by Tupelo.
The Cavaliers took down Olive Branch 2-0 with a 25-15 win in the first set and a 28-26 victory in the second set, and then got a 2-0 revenge win over rival New Hope just a few days after the Trojans beat them 3-0 in Region 1-5A play. The Cavs won the first set 25-23 and the second set 25-12. Caledonia ended its play in the tournament with back-to-back 2-0 losses to Tupelo and New Albany. The team got back into the win column Tuesday with a 3-0 victory over Columbus, claiming the first set 25-7 and the last two sets 25-6.
The Cavs (16-10-2, 3-3) are back on the court at 6 p.m. today hosting Lafayette.
New Hope lost three contests in the Tupelo volleyball tournament on Saturday to fall to 8-19 overall.
The Trojans fell 2-0 to Tupelo to start the day, then lost 2-0 to both Caledonia and Walnut. The team bounced back on Tuesday with a 3-0 win at West Point to improve to 3-2 in region play. The Trojans are back in action today at 6 p.m. at Columbus (2-10, 1-3). West Point (5-8, 0-6) looks for its first region win at 6 p.m. today against visiting Pontotoc.
West Lowndes fell to 4-8 on Tuesday with a close 3-2 loss against visiting Heritage Academy.
The Panthers play today at 6:30 p.m. at Region 3-1A-leading Ingomar. Heritage (13-20-2, 1-3) plays next at 6 p.m. on Sept. 22 at Winston Academy.
Oak Hill Academy softball
Offense was hard to generate for the Raiders as they suffered back-to-back District 2-3A losses Monday and Tuesday at the hands of Tri-County Academy to close out conference play on a four-game losing streak.
The Raiders (11-9, 5-5) hosted the Rebels on Monday and were outhit 16-4 and committed six errors in a 14-3 loss.
Tri-County exploded for four runs in the first inning and added two in the second, two in the fourth, one in the sixth and five more in the seventh. Oak Hill plated two runs in the second inning and notched one more in the third.
Kaelyn Pennington pitched all seven innings for the Raiders and gave up seven earned runs with one walk and two strikeouts. At the plate, Pennington had a double, and both Molly Aycock and Ella Margaret Gable had one hit. Oak Hill’s offense was stifled by Rebel pitcher Georgia Burgess, who struck out 10 Raiders.
In Tuesday’s game, Tri-County pitcher Merritt Jordan hurled a no-hitter in shutting out Oak Hill with a 10-0 defeat that lasted six innings. The loss is the first time the Raiders have been shut out all season.
The Rebels took a 2-0 lead in the second inning then added three runs in both the third and fourth innings and one run in both the fifth and sixth inning to close the game.
Pennington pitched the first three innings, giving up seven hits, seven runs (five earned) with three walks and two strikeouts, before being replaced by Reese Wooten. Wooten closed the game by allowing four hits, three runs (two earned) and one walk.
The Raiders end their regular season on Sept. 23 with a nonconference game at Starkville Academy, then play in the district tournament, which begins Sept. 27 at Bayou Academy in Cleveland.
Starkville Academy softball
The Volunteers rematch with East Rankin Academy on Tuesday went in favor of the hosting Hawks, who got a stellar pitching performance from Holly Jackson in beating Starkville Academy 11-3 in a District 4-2A contest.
Jackson kept SA’s batters at bay as she piled up a staggering 16 strikeouts to go along with only two hits allowed on the night. SA’s Molly Ingram and Elin Jewell each scored on a passed ball to give their squad a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning that held until the fourth inning, where ERA piled on five hits. In the bottom of the fourth, Parker Graves smacked a double to score Jewell to make it a 6-3 ball game. The Hawks then added two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings and plated one more run in the seventh.
Ingram pitched five innings from the circle and gave up 11 hits and eight earned runs with three walks and seven strikeouts. Azleigh Slivka closed the final two innings by relinquishing two hits and three runs. Emmi Miller was the only other Volunteer to put a ball in play with one single.
Starkville Academy (9-5, 2-3) has three games left in the regular season and plays its last district game at 6 p.m. today at Hartfield Academy.
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