MHSAA 4A Softball Championship: Breelyn Cain, Carsyn Mott lift West Lauderdale over North Pike

HATTIESBURG — Carsyn Mott homered, Courtney Lewis caused havoc on the base paths and Breelyn Cain hurled a gem to lift West Lauderdale to a 6-2 win over North Pike in Game 1 of the MHSAA Class 4A State Softball Championship Tuesday night at the USM Softball Complex.

Game 2 in the series is slated for 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon. If necessary, Game 3 would be Friday or Saturday, depending on how many of the six series go to a third game.

"I thought we hit the ball hard tonight," West Lauderdale coach Jake Loper said. "We had a couple of opportunities with runners on base and two outs where we couldn't get the big hit to bust it open, but I was proud of our effort."

Mott's two-run homer in the first inning couldn't have come at a better time — right after North Pike plated a pair of runs in the top of the inning.

Courtney Lewis doubled to lead off the inning, and Mott fouled off a couple of pitches before delivering a 2-and-2 pitch 15 feet beyond the wall in left-center.

"I finally got the pitch I was looking for," Mott said. "I just tried to do some damage with it."

The Lady Knights (28-8) picked up another run on in the first on an RBI single to left off the bat of Addison Cornish to take the 3-2 lead, and West Lauderdale never looked back.

Mott drove in another run with an RBI single to left in the fourth. The Knights’ other two runs came via a run-scoring single and a sac fly, both by Raegan Brady.

Meanwhile, newly minted Class 4A Miss Softball Breelyn Cain settled down on the mound. She gave up just three hits in the final six innings, walked just four and struck out six batters to pick up the win.

She got the final three outs after North Pike loaded the bases with nobody out. Two of those three outs came via the strikeout.

“We had opportunities with runners on,” North Pike coach Sonya Wallace said. “We just couldn’t capitalize. I felt like we did a good job of being patient at the plate, but we took a lot of strike ones that put us behind in the count and had us guessing what she was going to throw next. We’ll have to be more aggressive Thursday.”