Tornadoes baseball getting ready for region
The Philadelphia Tornado baseball team is off to a 1-4 start but Coach Jordan Flake is looking for better things to come.
“We are young,” Flake said. “We have two seniors and two juniors and the rest are 10th graders.
“We are playing some tough competition to get ready for our region schedule. We will start region when we get back from spring break,” Flake said.
The Tornadoes were to play Choctaw County on Monday, travel to Columbus on Tuesday and then host Union on Saturday.
Flake is counting on lefthanders Lakestan Tisdale and Dee Burnside to handle a bulk of the Tornadoes pitching. D.J. Grady is playing shortstop and pitching. Catcher Taishan Black is hitting the ball well.
Softball
The Philadelphia Lady Tornadoes softball program is rebuilding from the ground up under new head coach Sydney Martin.
The Lady Tornadoes stand at 1-5 going into this week with their win coming over region rival Newton. The Lady Tornadoes were to host McAdams on Monday, Leake County and Nanih Waiya on Tuesday and then host Scott Central on Thursday.
Leading the Philadelphia batters are seventh graders Macie Spurlock and Talia Cole, and juniors Tashae Robinson and Calce Fielder. Cole and Robinson are both seeing time on the pitching mound.
“We have 13 seventh and eighth graders and 10 high schoolers,” said Martin. “We have a lot of players who don’t have a lot of experience. But they are learning every day. It’s back to the basics, teaching them softball.”