MHSAA 3A Softball State Championship: Booneville's Hallie Burns does it all in 6-1 win over Enterprise-Clarke

HATTIESBURG — Booneville pitcher Hallie Burns may be a sophomore, but she’s got as much championship experience as anyone in Class 3A.

It was all on display Tuesday afternoon, when Burns went 4-for-4 at the plate with two doubles and pitched a three-hit, one-run game in the circle to lift the Blue Devils over Enterprise-Clarke 6-1 in the opening game of the 2022 3A State Championship series at the Southern Miss Softball Complex.

“I had kind of been in a slump (at the plate),” Burns said. “I was hitting well and then we hit district play and I said ‘Whoo, my average is not where it needs to be.’”

If that’s true, Tuesday should serve as a reminder of just how dangerous she can be.

Burns put the Blue Devils on the board in the first inning, driving in A Nelson from second with a double to right-center. Booneville plated two more runs in the inning — on an RBI double from Madison Owens and a run-scoring single from Maddix Lambert — to take a 3-0 lead.

“That was huge, getting those runs,” Burns said. “We’ve had games where we didn’t score for six, seven, even eight innings, and it’s so much tougher to pitch in those type of games.”

Burns didn’t give up a hit until the fourth inning, when Delaney Perry broke up the no-hitter with a seeing-eye single back up the middle.

The Blue Devils picked up an insurance run in the fifth on Owens’ RBI single and added two more in the sixth when Amelia Nelson and Burns delivered back-to-back hits to drive in a run.

They led it 6-0 by the time Enterprise-Clarke finally responded in the bottom of the sixth. Kylee Dewitt reached on an error, stole second and came home to score on C Stroud’s ensuing single.

But Burns got two strikeouts and a fly-out to get out of that jam, then worked around a one-out walk in the seventh inning to preserve the win.

Burns allowed just three hits in seven innings with two walks. She struck out eight, and the Bulldogs’ only run was unearned.

The Blue Devils banged out their six runs on nine hits and two walks.

“Their pitcher wasn’t that different from the last one we faced (in North State),” Booneville coach Jessica Taylor said. “So it wasn’t like it was a big change in speed, and I think our momentum from that series just carried over into this game today.”

Game Two in the series is set for 5 p.m. Friday.