In local sports action this week, Starkville Academy halted a streak of losses Monday with a victory and joined Heritage Academy and Oak Hill Academy as teams getting ready to head to the postseason. In volleyball, Caledonia posted its third shutout in a row while Starkville went 1-3 in a weekend tournament.
Starkville Academy 12, Central Holmes Christian 2
The Volunteers’ bats produced 12 hits for 14 runs on Monday in a win over the Trojans that snapped a four-game losing streak.
Starkville Academy plated three runs in the first quarter, two in the second inning, one in the third, one in the fourth and five in the fifth. Central Holmes was held scoreless until the fifth inning where it notched both runs.
Molly Ingram had two doubles and a single for two RBI, Ella Kate Heflin had four singles for three RBI, and Piper Sowell had two hits and an RBI. Lauren Adkerson, Emmi Miller, Piper Graves, Sarah Montgomery and Preslee Jackson each finished with one hit. Jackson’s hit was a triple.
Ingram pitched 4.2 innings from the circle and struck out nine, walked two and gave up only four hits. Azleigh Slivka came in for relief and got the final out.
The Vols (10-6) closed out the regular season yesterday by hosting Oak Hill Academy and turned their attention to the postseason. SA finished play in District 2-4A play last week with a 2-4 conference record and earned the No. 3 seed in the North 4A regional tournament, which begins Saturday at Bayou Academy and will conclude on Monday. The Vols will play Magnolia Heights at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday and the winner will play at 3:15 p.m. against either No. 1 East Rankin Academy or No. 4 Madison St. Joe. On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 Bayou Academy plays Heritage Academy (0-14-1), which wrapped up its regular season yesterday by hosting Kemper Academy, at 10 a.m., and No. 2 Hartfield plays No. 3 Pillow Academy also at 10 a.m.
The championship games for the winner’s bracket and the loser’s bracket, which will feature the only two teams with one loss in the tournament, will be played on Monday. First is the loser’s bracket game at noon, then the winner’s game is at 3:30 p.m. The top two teams will move on to play in the Division I Tournament, the No. 3 and No. 4 teams earn the right to play in the Division II Tournament and the No. 5 and No. 6 teams will play in the Division III Tournament. The division tournaments will be played at the Magee Sports Complex and begin on Oct. 4 and finish on Oct. 6.
Oak Hill Academy (11-9) went 5-5 in District 2-3A games and earned the No. 4 seed in the North 3A Regional Tournament. The Raiders will play No. 1 seed Marshall Academy at 10 a.m. on Monday at Bayou Academy and the game’s winner will move on to play either No. 2 Leake Academy or No. 3 North Delta School.
Volleyball
Make that three straight wins and three straight sweeps for Caledonia.
The Cavaliers captured a 3-0 win over visiting Amory Monday night for its third consecutive 3-0 victory and improved to 18-10-2 on the season.
The Cavs took the first set 25-15, the second set, 25-16, and the third set, 25-18. Up next are three straight Region 1-5A games to end the regular season as the team looks to try to make a run at the No. 1 spot in the region standings. Pontotoc is the first of the final three games and the two squads will clash at 6 p.m today in Pontotoc.
The Yellow Jackets lost 3-0 to Pass Christian, 3-0 to Hartfield Academy, 3-0 to Jackson Academy but defeated Lafayette 2-1. Starkville (9-16-1, 3-6) hosted Oxford yesterday and hosts Regents at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Columbus lost its fourth straight region game in a 3-0 defeat to visiting Lafayette on Monday.
The Falcons (2-12, 1-5) hosted West Point yesterday and host Noxubee County at 6 p.m. Thursday.
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