Avery Wolfe provides offensive fireworks as Hernando takes 3-1 win over Petal in MHSAA 6A Softball Championship
HATTIESBURG — The Petal-Hernando matchup in the MHSAA 6A Softball Championship was billed as a showdown between two great defensive clubs, and Wednesday night's Game One didn’t disappoint.
The Tigers got a sac fly out of senior third baseman Avery Wolfe in the the third inning and back-to-back RBI doubles from Wolfe and Janna Shaw to beat the Panthers 3-1 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three title series.
Game Two in the series is set for 5 p.m. Thursday.
“That’s a great ball club right there,” Hernando coach Nicki Whitten said, pointing to the Petal dugout. “Classy too. Their pitcher did a great job. Knew her go-to pitch was a rise, and they are a great team. They actually outhit us, but we got the timely plays when we needed them, and I’m super proud of them.”
Hernando starter Julia Shaw went seven innings without giving up a run. She gave up seven hits and walked two, but struck out five and got some big outs to work her way out of jams, stranding eight Petal baserunners.
Petal’s one run came on a home run off the bat of Kinley Hogue in the seventh inning, and she actually hit it off of Shaw’s younger sister, Janna Shaw.
“We wanted to try to do something different with (Hogue) there in the seventh because she had already been on base three times,” Whitten said. “So we made the pitching change to try to mix it up and she drilled it over the wall."
Wolfe was the hero for Hernando at the plate. Her sacrifice fly in the third came with nobody out and after Ally Agner had singled and gone first-to-third on an error.
Her RBI double in the fifth was a bullet to left center that scored Eyster easily from second base.
“It felt good out there,” Wolfe said. “I think my team had my back too. There were several big plays out there (defensively) in the outfield. I think we didn’t settle, and we’ll be back tomorrow.”
Petal pitcher Natalie Herrington pitched well, even in defeat. She went all seven innings and gave up two earned runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts.
Hogue and Emma Kate Fimiano led the Panthers at the plate with two hits apiece.
“I thought we swung the bat okay,” Petal coach Wendy Hogue said. “We squared some balls up, but we didn’t do enough to win that ball game. (Hernando) is a very good ball team. We thought we would need three runs to win it. That’s what we talked about before. We knew they were going to score some runs. They had three and we didn’t get there, so we didn’t do enough to win it.”
