The Mississippi Association of Coaches Cornerstone Rehabilitation All-Star state softball Games are set for Friday and Saturday at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville.
Nine players and coaches will represent the “Southern Six” in the Rising Stars and Future Stars games. The Rising Stars consist of next year’s junior class while next year’s senior class will participate in the Future Stars games. Game one of the Rising Stars contests is set for Friday at 4:00 pm. The Future Stars follow with game one of the 1A/2A/3A matchup at 6:30 pm. The 4A/5A/6A Futures follow at 8:30 pm. Saturday kicks off at 9:00 am with game two for the Rising Stars followed by the 1A/2A/3A Futures at 11:00 am and the day wraps up at 1:00 pm with game two for the 4A/5A/6A Future Stars.
East Central Head Coach Gerald Edmonson will help guide the South Rising Stars and will be joined on the team by Lady Hornets Kailee Lawson and Breyonna Tanner. Lawson hit .362 on the season with 8 2Bs 5 HRs and 36 RBIs. Tanner hit .398 with 35 RBIs at the plate and was also solid on the mound at 12-4 overall with a 2.91 ERA. Joining That Lady Hornet dup on the squad will be Hancock’s Teegan DeWitt and Harrison Central’s Gabby Smith. DeWitt finished an impressive sophomore season with a record of 16-5 with a coast-leading 191 Ks in 119 innings pitched. At the plate, DeWitt hit .432 for the 20-5 Lady Hawks. Smith led Harrison Central to the 6A South State Semifinals and a 20-win season picking up 11 of those wins in the circle for the Lady Red Rebels.
One glaring omission in the Rising Stars game is that not one player from Class 5A state champion George County was selected.
St. Patrick’s Brooklyn Mitchell is the lone 1A/2A/3A south representative. Mitchell helped lead the Lady Irish to the 3A second round and an 18-win season with a .405 average and 2 HRs and 35 RBIs.
East Central, Gulfport and West Harrison will represent the “Southern Six” in the 4A/5A/6A games. Bree Phillips and Kinsey Cochran will represent the Lady Hornets. Phillips was an offensive force for the South State runner-up Hornets hitting .491 with 7 HRs and 54 RBIs. Cochran set the table for the high-scoring East Central offense hitting .337 with 4 2Bs and 4 3Bs. West Harrison’s Abbie Hancock hit .490 on the season to lead the team while also stealing 10 bases as the Lady Hurricanes advanced to the 5A second round falling to the Florence Lady Eagles. Gulfport was the 3rd team in division 8-6A to have a 20-win season as the Lady Admirals finished 21-9 before falling to eventual state champion NW Rankin in the 2nd round and Haley Hughes was a huge part of that success. In the circle, Hughes was 6-3 with a 2.45 ERA while at the plate she hit .418 with 18 RBIs and 17 SBs.
Tickets will be $10 each day and can be purchased at the gate or through GoFan.
