The Southern Six will be well-represented as the South State semifinals in the high school softball playoffs get underway on Thursday and Friday.
Twelve Southern Six teams remain in the running in Classes 3A through 7A.
In 3A, St. Patrick (18-12) will host Jefferson Davis County in the opener of their best-of-three series at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The Lady Irish swept Southeast Lauderdale to advance. The winner of this series will take on the winner of the Wesson-West Marion series.
In 4A, Region 8 has three teams still alive.
Greene County (7-10), coming off a sweep of Northeast Jones, takes on Purvis, which eliminated Pass High to advance.
Region 8 champion Poplarville (17-8) swept through McComb and Mendenhall and now faces a red-hot Bay High team.
The Lady Tigers (11-15) got into the playoffs as the No. 4 seed in Region 8. They survived a three-game series against Lawrence County and then knocked off Sumrall.
Poplarville swept the regular-season series against the Lady Tigers. The series will open at 6 p.m. on Friday.
In 5A, there were no upsets as the top seeds from Region 3 and Region 4 advanced.
Region 4 champion East Central (21-4) takes on Region 3 runner-up North Pike on Friday at 6 p.m. in Hurley.
North Pike fell in the 4A state championship to West Lauderdale last season.
Vancleave continues to make a deep playoff run as longtime coach Donna Bragg has announced this will be her last season in charge of the Lady Bulldogs.
Vancleave improved to 15-8 on the season, taking a tough three-game series against South Jones. The Lady Bulldogs beat the Lady Braves 8-0 on Tuesday to advance.
Vancleave will be on the road to take on Region 3 champion Florence in their series opener on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Game Two will be at Vancleave on Saturday.
Region 4-6A will have a representative in Hattiesburg playing for a state championship in two weeks.
Picayune’s Game Three win over Pearl River Central on Tuesday meant all four teams in the region remain alive.
The Lady Maroon Tide (10-15) travel to Kiln to take on Hancock on Thursday night. The Lady Hawks (18-3) are coming off a two-game run-rule sweep of Terry and have won eight in a row, including a sweep of Picayune during the regular season.
Two red-hot teams are on the other side of the bracket as West Harrison (17-10) plays defending 5A champion George County (21-5).
The Hurricanes swept West Jones and have won 10 games in a row while the Lady Rebels run-ruled Hattiesburg in a two-game sweep and come in on a 13-game winning streak.
Game One is set for Friday night in Lucedale at 5:30 with Game Two in at West Harrison on Saturday at 6 p.m. George County won both meetings in the regular season.
In 7A, Ocean Springs and D’Iberville earned Game Three victories on Tuesday night to advance.
The Lady Greyhounds (19-5) beat Oak Grove in Ocean Springs and have won 10 of their last 11.
Ocean Springs will host Petal on Friday at 6 p.m. The Lady Panthers survived a three-game series against Gulfport to advance.
D’Iberville (19-7) took down Brandon on Tuesday in Game 3 to advance and will now face undefeated and nationally ranked Northwest Rankin.
The Lady Cougars swept Harrison Central 2-0 and 4-0 to improve to 28-0 this season. Game One of the series begins Thursday in Flowood at 6 p.m.
