Lady Tide "DeClaws" The Hattiesburg Tigers 18-2
by Carey Meitzler

Picayune exploded for 13 runs in the second inning on their way to a 18-2 victory in their Division
opener at Picayune. The win pushed the Lady Tide's record to 11-4-1 overall and 1-0 in Division 5-5A.

Malissa Fowler broke the ice for Picayune as she walked, stole second, moved to third on a sacrifice
fly by Kellye Bolar, and scored on a passed ball for a 1-0 lead. Allyson "Dink" Bynum and Tara Dunn
walked. Courtney Dickens then drilled a liner to left that got by the left fielder allowing Bynum, Dunn,
and Dickens to score making it 4-0. Krystal Penton singled and was out at second on Amanda
Feeley's fielder's choice. Catcher Kristen Fleming singled and Mallory Mixon came on as a courtesy
runner for Fleming. Cassie Rabion singled to left scoring both Feeley and Mixon to make it 6-0. Fowler
walked for the second time in the inning. Bolar singled to center field scoring Rabion. Bynum plated
Fowler with a sharp single to left field making it 8-0. Tara Dunn walked and as the pitch got away
from the Lady Tiger catcher, Bolar scored from third base. Dickens singled to score Bynum making
it 10-0. Penton then stroked a pitch off the bottom of the left field fence and wound up with a triple
that allowed both Dunn and Dickens to push the margin to 12-0. Feeley singled driving in Penton for
a 13-0 lead.

After allowing an unearned run in the third, Picayune tacked on five more runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Penton doubled home two runs and scored on a passed ball to make it 16-1. Later in the inning, Mixon
scored on a passed ball. Hope Guidry then singled to right and scored the final run as Fowler reached
on an error. Hattiesburg scored a run on two hits in the top of the fifth to make the final 18-2.

Sophomore Casey Mitchell went the distance to get the win on the mound for the Lady Tide allowing

just three hits.

Picayune will continue Division play with road games at Hancock on Tuesday and at Oak Grove on Friday.