Let’s go to the mailbag and answer some recent questions.
Which area prep baseball team is off to the best start?
The answer to that question is obvious; Starkville Academy.
Under coach Jody Britt, Starkville Academy has a losing record last season. But the Volunteers have rebounded in his second season and have gotten off to a 16-3 (6-3 in district play) start.
Starkville Academy has shown a major improvement on offense and the pitching staff has more then held its own.
In district play, Starkville Academy dropped two of three games to Jackson Academy. It also lost once at Greenville Washington. The Volunteers lost in heart-breaking fashion 16-10 in nine innings at home to Jackson Academy but rallied to split the games in Jackson.
Junior Colt Chrestman is hitting .516 to lead the Volunteers, while junior John McReynolds is next at .475. McReynolds also has team highs in home runs (three) and RBIs (22).
Next up is archrival Heritage Academy. Heritage Academy won the series meeting a year ago and has held the upper hand in the series of late. This will be a major test for Starkville Academy. Winning this series could all but nail down a playoff berth for the Volunteers.
What can we make of the East Mississippi Community College baseball season?
Coach Chris Rose was brought to EMCC prior to the 2011 season to help the baseball program join the basketball and football programs in competing for national championships.
In 2013, Rose’s third squad suffered a series of season-ending injuries but still rebounded to finish strong. A year later, the strong finish turned into a 32-13 record and the school’s first MACJC North Division title in baseball since the 1990 season.
Now the Lions appear ready to take the next step.
EMCC is ranked 14th nationally in this week’s NJCAA Division II poll. The Lions are 17-7 and 11-1 in division play. EMCC made its presence felt early in the race with a doubleheader sweep of No. 10 Jones County Junior College in Ellisville. The Bobcats played in the 2011 national championship game and won state again a year ago.
From a local standpoint, former New Hope High School standout Taylor Stafford, a freshman, is hitting .397 with three home runs and 18 RBIs, while former Columbus High standout Chris McCullough, also a freshman, is hitting .396 with three home runs and 14 RBIs. Former New Hope High standout JC Redden, a freshman, is 2-2 with a 3.60 ERA in 25 innings.
Does the Mississippi State softball team have a chance to play host to a NCAA tournament regional?
Very quietly, Vann Stuedeman has put together quite a team in her fourth season as coach of the Bulldogs.
MSU caught a huge break this season by not playing Auburn, Alabama, and LSU in conference play. Those teams are the top three in the Southeastern Conference. However, when your league has nine ranked teams, that means almost everybody is good. The SEC also has seven teams ranked in the top 13.
MSU is 26-10 and 5-7 in league play. The Bulldogs are 5-6 against ranked opponents this season. They also have a remarkable 13 come-from-behind victories.
A year ago, MSU hit .256 but still won 39 game and made a third-straight regional appearance.
This season, the Bulldogs are hitting .326 midway through their conference schedule. Entering this past weekend’s series against No. 3 Florida (where MSU won one game), eight of nine starters were hitting .311 or better.
Sophomore Alexis Silkwood leads the SEC with 19 victories. However, the Bulldogs will need more from others in the circle to have a chance to play host to the NCAA tournament.
The NCAA regional format involves 16 host sites. MSU’s Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is 23 entering this weekend’s pivotal SEC series at Arkansas. Ole Miss just swept Arkansas. MSU’s margin for error to host doesn’t exist against lesser opponents, so the Bulldogs need to do the same this weekend.
Is it too early to talk football? Of course, not.
Prep football schedules are beginning to trickle in and the countdown is on to the first heat timeouts of the season in late August.
Most schools will begin spring practice shortly after the Easter holiday.
Starkville High will host a three-team jamboree on May 15 at Davis Wade Stadium in Starkville. Carver High of Montgomery, Alabama, and South Panola will join Starkville. Each team will play the other two teams one half apiece.
Coach Randal Montgomery will get a closer look at his second Columbus High team on May 16 when his squad faces Clarksdale in the Delta State University Jamboree in Cleveland.
This season our area schools once again will deal with new alignments.
Columbus will return to Class 6A, Region 1, where it once again will square off against South Panola, Horn Lake, Hernando, Olive Branch, Tupelo, Southaven, and DeSoto Central.
Starkville will remain in Class 6A, Region 2, where it will face Murrah, Callaway, Warren Central, Greenville, Northwest Rankin, Madison Central, and Clinton.
Starkville and Columbus aren’t scheduled to play this season.
Scott Walters is a sports writer for The Dispatch. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
