Picayune wins 1st South State with 6-5 win over Long Beach in Game 3
For more videos from last night's game click here.
In case you missed it last night, a “first” occurred in Picayune when the Picayune Maroon Tide won the South State Championship in Fast Pitch. Playing in their first South State championship series, Picayune had to go three games to capture the title beating Long Beach 5-4 in Game 3.
After winning Game 1 by a score of 15-2 on Saturday at Long Beach, the Maroon Tide ladies hope to end the series in Game 2, but Long Beach beat Picayune 5-4 to force a deciding a third and deciding game.
In Game 3, Picayune scored first with Alyssa Pinero smashing a one out double to left and scoring on a double by Poppy McDonald with two outs.
Picayune added two more runs in the third on two walks and an RBI single by Elizabeth Taggard. Dee Cunningham walked with the bases loaded to force in the other run for a 3-0 lead.
The Maroon Tide got a run in the fifth when Lexie Picou beat out a ground ball for a base hit with two outs and scored two batters later on Magee’s single to push to lead to 4-0.
Megan Dudenhefer kept Long Beach scoreless through five innings, but the Bearcats rallied for two runs in the sixth and two runs in the seventh. In the sixth, the Bearcats would have scored two runs if not for outstanding plays in the Maroon Tide outfield.
Lexie Picou had to run to just short of the centerfield fence to make a catch and Sarah Walker ended the inning by making a shoe string catch while running full speed toward the left field line with a runner on base.
Tied at 4 to 4 heading to the bottom of the seventh, Lexie Picou singled just inside the right field line to start the inning. Devin Frierson laid down a perfect bunt toward third and beat it out for a single. Jessica Magee’s sacrifice fly moved Picou to third base with one out. Alyssa Pinero drilled a 1-0 pitch for a single to center to score Picou for a 5-4 win.
On the day, Pinero had five hits in nine at bats with a double, a triple, and four RBIs. Megan Dudenhefer and Jessica Magee both went 3 for 4 in Game 2.
The Maroon Tide will play four time defending state champion Neshoba Central on Thursday at 11:00am in Ridgeland in Game 1.
