2016 Combined

Week of S-)cJ-\ {p A 2-0 score was all Neshoba Central needed to win Game 1 of the Class SA title series Thursday night, but something inside of me figured it was only a matter of time before the Lady Rockets' offense would have an outburst. When it reached the top of the sev enth inning, that outburst finally came, as Neshoba Central loaded the bases to set the table for senior Madalyn McMahon, an East Central Community College signee, who connected on a grand slam to make it 6-0. "That's it," I said to an incredibly steep hill to overcome with Wesley on the mound, 6-0 may as well have been Mount Everest. Sure enough, a score less bottom of the seventh gave Neshoba Central the crown. McMahon, Hannah Williams, Kayla Robertson, Shelby Barrett and AJi Pike got the clean sweep of state titles as seniors. The Lady Rockets' four peat cast such a huge spot light on itself that it's almost easy to overlook the accom plishments of other area teams. Philadelphia High School, however, deserves much recognition as well. After winning a slow-pitch and fast-pitch state champi onship during the 2014-15 school year, the Lady Tor nadoes made it back to Ridgeland against last fall and captured their second straight slow-pitch title. Philadelphia would return to Ridgeland a second time this past week but ultimately got swept by Mooreville High School, the Lady Tor nadoes' opponent in last spring's title series. It's a significant achieve ment to make it to Ridge land twice in each sport in back-to-back seasons, and I expect Philadelphia to continue making postseason runs for the foreseeable future. The Lady Tornadoes See KEREKES, page 82 myself when I read she hit the slam. If2-0 was

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