George County, St. Patrick remain on top of Sun Herald baseball, softball polls
The weather certainly did a number on last week's baseball and softball schedules across the Coast.
Still, a handful of games made it to completion before being washed out.
George County's Rebels (5-2) and Ocean Springs' Greyhounds (6-1) remain on top of the baseball poll after a mostly quiet week.
No. 3 Gulfport (6-2), No. 4 Harrison Central (6-2), No. 5 West Harrison (5-2), No. 6 Biloxi (4-4), No. 7 D'Iberville (3-3) and No. 8 St. Patrick (4-1-1) fill in the boys rankings, with Vancleave (4-2) and Pearl River Central (6-2) tied for ninth. Hancock (4-3) and Long Beach (2-4-1) dropped out of the rankings.
The biggest matchup this week on the baseball diamond will take place at MGM Park on Thursday with the Greyhounds and Admirals facing off at 7 p.m.
Softball
Last week was supposed to be a big week for the Fighting Lady Irish, facing the likes of St. Martin and Neshoba Central. Instead, No. 1 St. Patrick (6-0) was idle and, along with No. 5 Poplarville (6-0), remain the only unbeaten Coast teams.
No. 2 Harrison Central (3-2), No. 3 West Harrison (4-3), No. 4 St. Martin (3-2), No. 6 Hancock (5-1), No. 9 Biloxi (5-1-1) all fell into place this week, with East Central (4-2-1) and Long Beach (3-3) tied at No. 7. Picayune (4-4) and Ocean Springs (5-4-1) tied for 10th, with George County (2-3-1) falling out of the poll.
Fast start
Former George County coach Bruce Thornton has the Biloxi Lady Indians off to a fast start.
The Lady Indians are led by ace Olivia Holley, who is already 5-0 with a 1.00 ERA. In her six appearances, she's already boasted two complete game shutouts with 34 strikeouts.
"She has a great command of the strike zone. She's around the plate and forces people to put the ball in play," Thornton said. "We've played well behind her and she's gotten the big strikeout when needed."
In their seven games, Biloxi has played well all-around, out-scoring opponents 44-14. Thornton attributes much of the team's early success to taking what opponents have given them.
"That's what I like to see. This is a difficult hitting game, you're not always going to be able to pound out 10 hits a game, so you have to take advantage of walks and defensive mistakes," Thornton said. "We've also done a really good job of getting hits with runners in scoring position."
The Lady Indians return to the diamond this week with a game Tuesday at Stone before facing Pascagoula and East Central in D'Iberville's tournament on Friday.
This story was originally published March 14, 2016 at 4:59 PM with the headline "George County, St. Patrick remain on top of Sun Herald baseball, softball polls ."