Resurrection scores late to earn South State berth

Ethel’s defense committed just one error on the night, but it helped Resurrection beat the Tigers 5-4 Monday to advance to the Mississippi Class 1A South State finals.

The Eagles (22-7) will meet Nanih Waiya Thursday in Pascagoula in the first round of South State finals. The Warriors (24-2) have only dropped games to Noxapater and Southeast Lauderdale.

"It means a lot to us," Resurrection right fielder/catcher Ty Tingle said. "We worked hard to get this."

"I’m so happy for the guys," said Eagles coach Johnny Olsen, who last went to South State as the coach of the 1996 state champion Pascagoula squad. "They are blue collar guys who have worked hard to get here."

"It’s going to be an adventure," second baseman Patrick Lee said. "We have never been there before."

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Tingle hit a towering pop up to short. The Ethel shortstop and third baseman called for the ball with the shortstop trying to make the play, but ball dropped to the ground. Tingle never stopped running and ended up on second.

"After the ball goes into the light, it is really hard to see," Tingle said. "I was very disappointed when I popped it up. Our coaches told us to run through a pop-up. I ran to second instinctively. It all worked out in the end."

Patrick Newton followed with a grounder to short, allowing Tingle to get to third. Ethel pitcher Hayden Burns, who started Game 1 Friday and entered Monday’s game in the fourth inning, quickly got two strikes on Eagles third-place hitter Lee.

"Our coaches tell us to never let the umpires get you out, to be aggressive at the plate," Lee said. "My primary goal was to get the runner on third home."

Lee, who had a single and double earlier in the game, hit the ball to the deepest part of center field, driving in Tingle and giving Resurrection their first lead of the night, 6-5. Clark Presley made the lead stand in the seventh, getting only his second perfect inning of the game, retiring the Tigers (24-7) in order.

"(Tingle) never stopped running," Olsen said. "If he doesn’t get to second, we don’t score that final run. Lee had a huge night at the plate tonight. He is so clutch. We know he is going to hit the ball.

"We got a break and we made the most of it."

"We left too many runners on base," Ethel coach Chris Schuster said. "We had two or three opportunities in the game, but let them hang around. (Presley) did a great job, but we couldn’t get it going.

"It’s not the way we wanted the season to end."

Over the first four innings, Ethel and Resurrection traded runs, with Ethel scoring first. In the top of the third, Tanner Reeves walked and Cam Campbell was hit by a pitch. Hayes Wood, who started for the Tigers, added a bunt single when Resurrection failed to cover first on his sacrifice attempt. Alex Schuster hit a fly to left, scoring Reeves and sending Campbell to third.

However, Presley managed to get out of the inning with only one run scoring, getting fly balls to third and second.

Resurrection immediately responded behind a two-out double by Lee. Wesley McClain followed with a single to score Lee.

In the fourth, Ethel put together four hits and an Eagles error to push three runs across the plate, with Wood and Schuster getting RBI singles. Resurrection came back with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning as Newton’s two-run single highlighted the inning.

Wood led the game off for Ethel and had two hits, a walk, and a hitsbatsman. Cody Weeks added a double and single and Campbell was hit twice. Schuster had two RBIs for the Tigers.

Newton had two hits and two RBIs for Resurrection. McClain added a pair of RBIs, driving in his second run in the fourth on a hit batsman. Elijah Watts was 0-1 with a walk and was hit twice. In addition to his single, double, and sacrifice fly, Lee added a hit batsman and two stolen bases.

This story was originally published May 8, 2017 at 11:06 PM with the headline "Resurrection scores late to earn South State berth."