New Hope’s volleyball team captured a district win last week then added two more victories in the Gulfport Tournament over the weekend to find some winning momentum on the season. In softball action, both Starkville Academy and Oak Hill Academy hit some bumps in the district road of the softball season on Monday in the form of setbacks. 

Volleyball

New Hope’s volleyball squad played in six games since their Sept. 2 Region 1-5A loss at Pontotoc and notched three wins along the way. The Trojans took down Columbus 3-0 on Thursday for a region win then headed to Gulfport to play in the Gulfport Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Trojans opened tournament play with a 2-0 loss to the host school before bouncing back with a 2-1 win over Pass Christian to wrap up action on the first day. New Hope began Day 2 with a 2-0 setback to Presbyterian Christian but responded with a 2-0 win over Bay High. Hancock ended the Trojans tournament with a 2-0 loss. 

New Hope (7-15, 1-1) hosted Lafayette for another region game yesterday and hosts rival Caledonia at 6:30 p.m tomorrow.   

The Cavaliers improved to 3-1 in Region 1-5A play with a 3-0 sweep of visiting Pontotoc last Thursday. 

The Cavs took the first set 25-18, the second set 25-23 and the third set 25-20. Caledonia (13-6-2, 3-1) played at New Albany yesterday and plays at rival New Hope tomorrow. Columbus (2-8, 1-1) hosted Pontotoc yesterday and plays at Lafayette at 6 p.m. tomorrow. 

Starkville fell to 1-5 in Region 2-7A games yesterday with a 3-1 loss at Germantown. 

The Mavericks won the first set 25-13 but Starkville claimed the second set 26-24. The Mavs pulled ahead in the third set 25-21 and took the match with a 25-13 win in the fourth set. 

The Yellow Jackets (6-12-1, 1-5) played yesterday at Madison Central and are back in action at Clinton on Sept. 16.

West Lowndes lost its second-consecutive Region 3-1A contest Thursday in a 3-0 sweep by visiting Ingomar. The Panthers (3-5, 1-2) played at Smithville yesterday and host Okolona at 6 p.m. tomorrow. 

Starkville Academy’s volleyball team dropped a 3-1 decision to visiting Tupelo Home School on Monday. 

The Volunteers lost the first set 25-21, but captured the second set 25-9. The Titans finished the match by winning the third set 25-13 and the fourth, 25-19. SA (1-11) hosted East Webster yesterday and is back on the court Saturday for the Heritage Academy Tournament. 

Leake Academy 5, Oak Hill Academy 3

The Rebels used a double, a triple, a well-timed bunt and one of Oak Hill’s four errors to tack on two late runs in the seventh inning of Monday’s game in West Point to narrowly slip past the Raiders, 5-3, in a District 3-2A contest.

Leake Academy took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but its advantage was quickly equalized in the fourth when Kaelyn Pennington smacked a solo home run over the left field fence. Leake added a run in both the fifth and sixth innings for the 3-1 lead, but Oak Hill wasn’t going away.  In the bottom of the sixth inning, both Sally Rhea Chaney and Pennington got on base with a single. Molly Aycock stepped up to the plate and belted a double to bring Chaney and Pennington home and knot the game at 3-3 before Leake took the lead again for good in the seventh. 

Rebels pitcher Raylee Quick proved to be the difference in the circle as she struck out 12 Raiders, walking two and allowing seven hits. Pennington also gave up seven hits, but relinquished five runs – one earned – and fanned four. Pennington and Aycock both led the team with two hits, and Parker Higginbotham, Chaney and Mollie Caroline Brand each produced one hit. 

“We made four errors and had 12 strikeouts, so that pretty much sums it up,” head coach Lewis Earnest said. “We played them close and had a good ball game going. They only had one earned run, so (Pennington) did her part in the circle, but we didn’t back her up defensively or (with) hitting.”

Oak Hill (11-6, 5-2) had a chance for revenge when it played yesterday at Leake Academy in a game that will affect the district standings just a few weeks away from the beginning of the postseason. The Rebels hold down the No. 2 spot in the district, just behind leader Tri-County Academy. A win over Leake would create a second-place tie between the Rebels and Raiders before Oak Hill takes on Tri-County on Sept. 15 for a chance to take down the top dog. Earnest said the key to climbing higher in the standings is producing more hits at the plate.  

“(Our batting) can’t be much worse,” he said. “We hit a few balls hard (Monday) night and weren’t able to take advantage of them. We got thrown out at the plate twice, but with two outs you have to take that chance, and both times they made perfect throws.” 

Hartfield 6, Starkville Academy 2

Starkville Academy, which hasn’t seen any softball action since Aug. 26 due to game cancellations, fell 6-2 to visiting District 2-4A foe Hartfield Academy on Monday.

The Vols led 1-0 after the first inning, but after Hartfield tied the game in the third inning, it was all Hawks from there. Hartfield plated two runs in the fourth inning and three more in the sixth to keep well ahead of the Vols, which were only able to score one more run in fourth. 

The Vols had trouble hitting off Hartfield pitchers Georgia Singletary and Bailey King, who combined to give up only four hits and one earned run. Molly Ingram pitched all seven innings for SA and struck out six Hawks, but gave up six earned runs. 

At the plate, Ingram had a triple, and Lauren Adkerson, Emmi Miller and Piper Graves all had one single. 

SA (9-3, 2-1) begins a spree of three straight district games at 6 p.m. tomorrow at East Rankin Academy.