The Southern Six is guaranteed two teams to advance to next week’s state softball championships in Hattiesburg but as many as five teams in South State action this week could punch their tickets to the Hub City.
In Classes 5A and 6A, the South State champion will come from the Southern Six as Region 4 rivals Hancock and George County battle for the 6A title while East Central and Vancleave clash in 5A.
In 3A, St. Patrick improved to 20-12 with a two-game sweep of Jefferson Davis County and will travel to Wesson (23-3) on Thursday for the opener of their best-of-three series.
The Lady Irish outscored the Lady Jaguars 28-2 in the sweep and have outscored their three playoff opponents 88-4 heading into the Wesson series. Wesson comes off a tough three-game series against West Marion.
In 4A, Poplarville (17-10) survived a three-game series against region rival Bay High, defeating the Lady Tigers 4-3 in the clincher. The Lady Hornets now take on Purvis (25-3), which eliminated Greene County in two games. Poplarville will play at Purvis in the opener on Thursday night.
In 5A, Jackson County rivals will meet with the South State title on the line as East Central (23-4) hosts Vancleave (17-9) in their series opener on Thursday night in Hurley. Game Two heads across the river to Vancleave on Friday.
The Lady Hornets swept defending 4A South State champion North Pike 9-3 and 4-1 while Vancleave dispatched Florence in two pitchers’ duels resulting in 3-2 and 1-0 victories for the Lady Bulldogs.
East Central swept the regular-season series against the Lady Bulldogs, winning 7-6 and 6-2. It is the fourth consecutive South State final for the Lady Hornets while the Lady Bulldogs continue to make their deep playoff run in coach Donna Bragg’s final season.
In 6A, George County (23-5) is making its third consecutive South State appearance. The Lady Rebels, the 5A state champions in 2023, face Region 4 foe Hancock (20-3) as both teams come in on hot streaks.
George County swept West Harrison 3-2 and 7-1 to push its winning streak to 15 games. The streak began after a 3-2 loss to the Lady Hawks in Kiln, the Lady Rebels’ only region defeat this season.
Hancock comes in off a two-game sweep of Picayune by scores of 6-0 and 7-3 and has won 10 in a row and 13 out of its last 15 with the only losses in that stretch coming against George County 10-6 and West Harrison 3-1.
In 7A, the Ocean Springs Lady Greyhounds (21-5) face the daunting task of trying to knock off Northwest Rankin Lady Cougars (30-0), the No. 2 team in the nation according to Max Preps. Northwest Rankin won the 6A state title in 2023.
Ocean Springs followed up a three-game series win over Oak Grove with a three-game series victory against Petal. The Lady Cougars have knocked off two Coast teams, Harrison Central and D’Iberville, on their way to the South State finals.
The state championship series are set to begin on Tuesday, May 14, at the Southern Miss softball complex in Hattiesburg.
