Neal Henry is focused.
The Starkville Academy baseball coach has spent the past seven-plus days trying to find a way to help his team get to game three of its Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, Division II State title series against Magnolia Heights.
Henry will get a chance to showcase his plan at 3:30 p.m. today when the teams meet in game two at Volunteer Field. Rain Saturday forced action to be postponed with the Chiefs leading the series 1-0.
“We have just come to practice every day willing to work and focused on our task at hand,” Henry said. “(The mood) has been good. We’re going to try to do anything we can to get to game three. You can’t play game three without winning game two.”
Starkville Academy (23-10) will go with Drew Pellum on the mound in game two. Henry said the Volunteers are undecided on who would start game three. Both teams figure to have rested pitching staffs. Magnolia Heights won game one 1-0 last Tuesday in Senatobia. The teams have spent the past eight days avoiding the rain and waiting to get back to business.
Jackson Pitts started game one for Magnolia Heights, which scored a run in the bottom of the first inning in the series opener. Henry said Pitts did a good job keeping the Volunteers off balance, but that his team didn’t capitalize on its opportunities. He said the Volunteers had runners in scoring position in five of the seven innings, and at third base in two innings. He didn’t have any idea who the Chiefs would start in game two.
Hunter Bolin pitched game one for Starkville Academy.
While the lapse in game action would hurt most clubs, Henry said his team has been battled tested and has remained poised. He feels it will be ready to extend the series and then see what happens in a winner-take-all finale.
“These guys have practiced hard and played hard all year,” Henry said. “I don’t think the layoff will hurt us. … There are a lot of things that we worked on from (game one) that we have done all week. We are really confident going into (today’s game).”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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