NEW HOPE — Taylor Brownlee did not expect much out of the final at-bat of her high school career.
It wasn’t because New Hope’s senior third baseman didn’t care, and it wasn’t because the playoff game against Neshoba Central was out of reach.
It was that she couldn’t see.
“When Kensley Woolbright came into the dugout bawling, I knew then and there I was going to bawl,” Brownlee said, able to laugh about it a few minutes after the Rockets ended the Trojans’ season with a 7-1 win on Friday night. “I went up to bat my last at-bat crying, and I was just swinging for the fence because I couldn’t see the ball.”
Woolbright came into the dugout after a long top of the sixth in the circle, when she threw 41 of her 130 pitches — “She actually has no skin on the side of her finger right now,” coach Casey Finch Halford said afterward — and allowed three runs as Neshoba Central turned a 4-1 game into a more comfortable 7-1 margin. Barring a miracle, the Trojans’ final half-inning of the 2022 season was imminent, and everybody felt it.
There was a lot of crying on the New Hope side as the game came to a close, and plenty more in the minutes that followed. But nobody was crying because they lost, although they were disappointed in back-to-back drubbings after an eight-game winning streak brought them to the MHSAA Class 5A North State championship series.
No, they were crying because their ride was over. Especially for New Hope’s five seniors — three of whom played in Friday night’s game — it was a difficult season to leave behind.
“We started with a lot of injuries,” Halford said, through tears, of course. “It was exciting to see how they moved into those roles and got out of their comfort zone. They got comfortable being uncomfortable, and they rose to the occasion each time.”
They played a challenging schedule, and it showed: The Trojans had trouble getting to and staying over .500 all season and they were still just 12-12-1 with two games left in the regular season.
“I think playing those hard teams sometimes damages your confidence, but when we were getting toward the end of the season and we went into district and we started winning, we showed that we’re better than the record showed,” said senior Emma O’Bryant, who was the Trojans’ flex on Friday night, playing first base.
“We all thought it was going to be a tough year,” said senior Conerly Moody, who played second base in the season finale. “Going against those tough teams in the beginning of the season is one of the reasons we made it this far.”
“We played a lot of hard teams, pitchers we couldn’t hit,” Brownlee said. ”But when we got to the end, that’s when we started to produce.”
Comments like those are music to Halford’s ears, as that is the message she has carried throughout the season. “You can’t go through a cakewalk if you’re going to play with them,” Halford said, gesturing toward the Rockets. “They’re a phenomenal team, but so are we.”
Each of Friday’s seniors starters will take the memory of being on a “phenomenal team” with them, but other memories stick out more.
For Brownlee, it was a specific play.
“My favorite memory has to be when I got a double play,” she said of a game-ending adventure. “I dove for the ball and caught the ball, and then I tagged the girl. Andy (Halford) was on the edge of his seat because they were like, “I didn’t see it! I didn’t see if she tagged her!” It was just so amazing.”
For O’Bryant, it was one special game, one that had nothing to do with the final score.
“I think it was getting to play with my sister my seventh-grade year,” she said, as her sister Anna Kate was a senior when Emma was in seventh grade. “I played one game of varsity. I played a lot of shortstop back then, and she played second base. It was for two innings, but it was the only time I got to play with her, and it was awesome.”
But Anna Kate O’Bryant, who went on to play for Mississippi University for Women, wasn’t the first member of the family to play for New Hope.
“I was on the first two state championship teams that New Hope had,” said the sisters’ mom Jill. “It was slow-pitch back then.”
“Back then” were the 1988, 1989 and 1990 seasons.
“I wanted them to play if they wanted to play, and fortunately they wanted to play,” Jill O’Bryant said after the game. “It’s kind of been a family tradition.”
Moody had a simple memory to take with her.
“Definitely, my favorite memory is the family bond that I’ve gotten,” she said.
The family’s last outing together was close for a while, as the Trojans trailed 1-0 after four innings. As the Rockets led 7-0 at that point in Game 1, it was progress.
But Neshoba Central is 29-3 for a reason, and when the Rockets drew two one-out walks in the fifth, they knew how to cash in. Junior Dakota Williamson boomed an RBI double to right-center, and, after a walk loaded the bases, freshman Leslie Morris delivered a two-run single for a 4-0 lead.
The Trojans finally broke through in the sixth. Lailah Henderson beat out an infield single and then stole second. Woolbright sent a fly ball to right that was caught. Henderson went to third, but the right fielder threw wildly toward third, allowing Henderson to score what would be the Trojans’ only run of the game.
Henderson’s infield hit was one of only three New Hope managed off of Neshoba Central starter Lanaya Henry, who struck out eight and walked one. The others were an infield hit by Lexi McBrayer in the fourth and a leadoff single to left in the seventh from Jeoreia Henry.
The Rockets loaded the bases in the seventh with none out with a double sandwiched between a walk and a hit batter. After a strikeout, a two-run single made it 6-1, and after another strikeout two walks brought in the seventh run.
After Henry’s single, two strikeouts and a pop to second ended New Hope’s season.
“Neshoba is an excellent ball club,” Halford said. “They’re well coached; they’re very disciplined, They do the little things right, and there’s a reason why they have a lot of banners on their wall.”
The feeling around the Trojans is that banners are coming. After all, the progress has been there over the past few years.
“For us in my freshman year to get to only the first round of playoffs to now getting to North State, it’s big,” O’Bryant said.
“We definitely grew as a program, and we definitely grew as a team,” Moody added.
With all but five players returning, and getting back three others who were lost to season-ending injuries, there is plenty of optimism around the Trojans.
“Last year, we made it to third round, this year we made it to North half, and next year when i come back and see them they’re going to state because that’s what I want for them,” Brownlee said.
Halford didn’t go quite that far, but the implication is clear.
“Last year we stopped at third round, this year North State,” she said. “They’re hungry.”
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