The future of slow pitch softball as a Mississippi High School Activities Association sport will be determined after the season, according to MHSAA executive director Don Hinton.
The future is in doubt because the number of schools fielding teams has decreased to 89, about 36 percent of the association’s approximately 245 member schools.
The MHSAA handbook states that 50 percent need to field teams for the organization to conduct a championship, but Hinton said that is not a hard rule. “Our board has the authority to determine if there are enough schools to have a valid state championship.”
Some MHSAA sports — including archery, bowling and swimming — fall short of 50 percent.
— Laurence Hilliard
WOLVERINES SET FOR HOME OPENER
East Webster will have its home opener this week as they host Shaw on Friday. The Hawks are 1-0 after beating Leland 20-14 in the season opener.
“I don’t know much but they won their first game and I know they will be athletic,” Price said. “We will still be working on us and make adjustment from week one. You make your biggest improvements from week one to week two. We have to fix things that we know we did wrong in week one. I want us to be more physical and we are going to have to win those battles on the offensive line.”
— Robbie Robertson
CCHS OPENS ROBERTS ERA WITH VICTORY
Choctaw County began the Jeff Roberts’ era by running for 464 yards in a 34-20 victory over Independence. It was Roberts’ first game as the Chargers’ coach.
“We want to run the ball and we did that effectively,” he said, adding that the Chargers have to get better in the Red Zone. “I think we could have scored a couple more touchdowns. But I can’t fault the effort of our linemen and runners. They broke some long runs.”
Quarterback Tylan Carter and sophomore running back Dicenzo Miller did most of the damage, each scoring twice and coming close to 200 yards apiece. Miller had 18 carries for 195 yards and Carter 20 for 189 yards. Carter also completed four passes for 76 yards.
— Laurence Hilliard
SIMMONS’ 44-GAME STREAK SNAPPED
Amanda Elzy held off 1A title contender Simmons 8-6 for the Panthers first win against the Blue Devils since 2000. The win also snapped Simmons 44-game regular season winning streak. The last time Simmons lost a regular season game was Sept. 26, 2014 against Yazoo County.
— Brandon Shields
KEEP UP WITH LOCAL SPORTS
Be sure to follow @OldSportsDude on twitter to keep up with new info on high school and college teams around the area, plus much more. Not only will some fresh tweets appear, but there will be plenty of retweets, as well as some fresh takes on a few of those retweets as well.
If you have questions about sports articles that appear in The Webster Progress Times you can also email sports editor Austin Bishop at starsportsboss@yahoo.com or text him at 601-938-2471.
— Austin Bishop
FCA DEFENSIVE BACK OUT WITH BROKEN FINGER
An off the field injury hurt French Camp Academy’s pass defense. Senior defensive back Holt Barlow suffered a broken finger when he dropped a weight on it. “He mashed it pretty good,” FCA Head Coach Nathan Wright said.
“We were already pretty thin at defensive back. They torched us pretty good in the second half,” he said of FCA’s 34-24 season-opening loss to Winona Christian Wright is not sure how long Barlow will be out. “They told him originally three weeks.”
— Laurence Hilliard
