Lady Rockets claim ninth straight state championship
“We got another one.”
It never gets old for the Neshoba Central Lady Rockets who swept East Central last week to claim their ninth straight state fast-pitch soft- ball championship and the 11th in school history.
All of the Mississippi High School Activities Association state championship series were held at the University of Southern Mississippi softball complete in Hattiesburg. Neshoba Central won game one 7-0 and took game two 14-4. Neshoba Central finished the season with a 31-3 record.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls we put on the field this year,” said Coach Zach Sanders. “We came down here last year with six seniors, two juniors and an eighth grader on the field. We were undefeated.
“This year, we came through the season with 31-3 record. We had an eighth grad- er, three ninth graders three sophomores, a junior and two seniors starting. We were real- ly a young group. We worked from August until today, building and maturing and getting better and doing what we needed to do to build a championship team.”
This is the ninth straight fast-pitch championship. The
program also has eight straight slow-pitch championships to its credit during the same time period, giving the Lady Rockets a total of 17 gold trophies. Sanders said no one wants to let this winning streak come to an end of their watch.
“It drives you,” Sanders said. “It keeps you going. I’m pretty sure nobody wants to be that team that ends the streak.”
Freshman Lanayah Henry was the winning pitcher of both Lady Rockets victories. She was named the MVP for
the championship series.
Game one
East Central 0
With Lanayah Henry’s four-hitter backed up by a strong defense, the Lady Rockets kept East Central off the scoreboard in game one while scoring seven runs.
Neshoba Central scored one in the first, five in the third and one in the sixth to go up 1- 0 in the championship series.
Fielder was the winning pitcher while Lauren Brooks took the loss for East Central.
Tenly Grisham had two hits and scored two runs. Henry and Miley Thomas both had two hits. Hama’ya Fielder, Mya Willis and Mauhree Jones all had one hit.
Game two
Lady Rockets 14 East Central 4 Mauhree Jones knocked in two runs in the bottom of the sixth as Neshoba Central beat East Central with the 10 run rule in game two and captured the state championship.
Neshoba Central scored five runs in the first inning. They added two in the third inning, three in the fourth and four in the fifth. East Central scored one in the second and three in the fourth.
Henry was the winning pitcher. She allowed six hits and struck out two batters, Breyona Tanner took the loss for East Central.
The Lady Rockets banged out 13 hits. Hama’ya Fielder and Mya Willis both hit a dou- ble. Miley Thomas and Charmayne Morris both hit a triple. Tenly Grisham and Sa’Naya Jackson both had two hits.
This is the second year in a row the Lady Rockets have beaten East Central in the state finals.