The softball season for Oak Hill Academy and Starkville Academy came to a close on Saturday in their respective division state tournaments as both teams suffered back-to-back losses. In volleyball, West Lowndes opened the 1A state playoffs with a win.
Starkville Academy
The Volunteers’ bid for a state championship came to a close on Saturday in the MAIS Class 4A Division III state tournament where the team suffered two losses, the last of which ended their 2025 campaign with a 12-10 overall record.
Starkville Academy opened tournament play against Silliman Institute and allowed a series of late scores that sent the team to the losers’ bracket in a 5-1 loss.
The Wildcats broke the scoreless game open in the sixth inning with a double RBI single and took a 2-0 lead to the top of the seventh inning, where they piled on three more runs. In the bottom, the Volunteers, who had totaled three hits earlier in the match, got a hit by Molly Ingram who reached first base on a fielding error and scored Addie Smith for the team’s only run. Ingram pitched the entire game and gave up three earned runs and struck out six batters.
The loss sent SA to the losers’ bracket where it faced off with Magnolia Heights. Offense was once again hard to create as the Vols were held to just one run in a 4-1 loss that ended their season.
Both teams scored one run to open the game, but the Chiefs tacked on three more in the third inning to pull ahead for good. The Volunteers, despite landing a total of eight hits, couldn’t get a runner across home plate for the rest of the match as the team struggled to score off Magnolia Heights’ pitcher Bri Coleman, who struck out nine Vols. Ingram led the team with three hits, and Smith, Piper Graves, Emmi Miller, Ella Kate Heflin and Lauren Adkerson each tallied one hit. Ingram pitched the entire game and fanned five batters and gave up two earned runs.
Silliman went on to beat Magnolia Heights 8-5 in the losers’ bracket championship game and earned the right to play Brookhaven Academy for the Division III state championship. The best-of-three series begins today in Magee and will wrap up with Game 3 on Saturday if necessary.
Oak Hill Academy
The Raiders ended their first-ever postseason trip to the state tournament by falling in two defeats on Saturday in the Class 3A Division II tournament.
Their first test was against Bowling Green School, and for two innings in the game, Oak Hill had a 3-2 lead. After the Buccaneers pulled ahead 2-0 in the first inning, the Raiders responded in the top of the second by plating three runs. Mollie Caroline Brand singled to left field to score Katelyn Lewis, and Molly Aycock belted a pop fly and reached first base on a fielding error that allowed Brand and Parker Higginbotham to score.
The lead, though, was short-lived as Bowling Green tacked on four more runs in the third inning and pulled away for an 11-3 victory. The Buccaneers added one run in both of the fourth and fifth innings and finished the game off by plating three more runs in the sixth. The Raiders were held to just four hits while Bowling Green produced 11 off pitchers Kaelyn Pennington and Brand. Pennington pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up eight earned runs, 11 hits and walked five with four strikeouts. Brand came in and got the final two outs, walking one and fanning one.
The loss sent the team to the losers’ bracket where it squared off with Leake Academy, the team that ended its run in the North 3A Regional Tournament. The Rebels broke a 3-3 tie in the third inning by scoring a run and added three more runs in the fifth inning to hand Oak Hill a 7-4 season-ending defeat.
The Raiders, who were outhit 7-5, tallied its last run of the season in the fifth inning when Lily Reed was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to send home Pennington. Aycock led the team with two hits, and Lewis, Mary Crosley Coker and Higginbotham each had one hit.Pennington pitched the complete game and gave up all seven runs and seven hits without registering a strikeout. As a team, Oak Hill had six errors in the game.
“At times I was real of them competing real hard,” head coach Lewis Earnest said. “They showed they have the ability to beat good teams and to be a good team, but it’s like we just couldn’t hold it together for very long. It seems like if one thing went wrong, it kind of snowballed on us. It’s hard to overcome mistakes.”
Oak Hill ends the 2025 season at 13-14 overall, but Earnest said the season was a good stepping stone for a program full of young but talented players.
“It should be a good building block for us,” he said. “We were in the same situation last year. We won our district last year and went to the (regional) playoffs and lost two games. (Next) year we have everybody coming back except one, Mollie Brand, my right fielder, so it should be positive for next year. We just have to find a way to get mentally tougher and be a little more competitive. We have some decent athletes, we just have to get better overall, especially mentally.”
Wayne Academy will play Bowling Green for the Division II state championship beginning today in Magee. Game 3 will be played on Saturday if necessary.
Volleyball
West Lowndes began its run in the MHSAA Class 1A volleyball tournament on Saturday with a 3-0 sweep at West Bolivar.
The Panthers advanced to the second round and played at West Union, which defeated Falkner 3-0, Tuesday.
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