Tuesday night will be a big night for the Brookhaven LadyPanthers, the Bogue Chitto Lady Bobcats, the Wesson Lady Cobras andthe North Pike Lady Jaguars slowpitch softball teams. All fournewly-crowned division champs will be hosting the first round ofthe South State playoffs.

Division 7-4A champ Brookhaven entertains Division 8 runnerupD’Iberville, Division 7-1A champ Bogue Chitto hosts Division 8runner-up Mize, Division 6-2A champ Wesson entertains Division 5-2Arunner-up Enterprise-Clarke and Division 7-3A champ North Pikehosts Division 8 runnerup Purvis.

In road games, the Division 7-1A runnerup West Lincoln LadyBears will be at Division 7-1A champ Puckett starting at 1 p.m.Andrew Redd is head coach of the Lady Bears.

Lawrence County, coached by Patsy Sandifer, is on the roadTuesday and plays George County at 4:30 in Lucedale.

Also playing on the road is Division 7-3A runnerup Hazlehurst atDivision 8 champ Columbia.

The games will be played under the best 2-of-3 format with thesecond or possible third game immediately following the firstsecond one. Starting times vary for each team.

Tuesday night’s winners advance to the next round on Saturday,Oct. 20. The North and South finals will be held Tuesday, Oct. 23and the championship games are set for Saturday, Oct. 27 at V.A.Fields in Jackson.

Only state passes will be accepted. The admission is $5.

Brookhaven (15-11, 3-0) won the Division 6-4Atitle over Lawrence County. The Lady Panthers host D’Iberville, theDivision 8 runnerup, Tuesday. The first game starts at 4:30p.m.

“D’Iberville plays good defense and they have two strongbatters,” said Brookhaven coach Lisa Covington. “Our players havestepped it up this season and I am proud of what we haveaccomplished.”

This is Covington’s 8th year as head coach. The Lady Panthersare enjoying their fourth division championship.

Starting for Brookhaven tomorrow are first baseman SamanthaBoutwell, second baseman Ginny Dunaway, short stop Megan Bateman,third baseman Ashley Sykes, pitcher Mandy Vinson, catcher ChuvaquaSmith, left fielder Shamika Gilmore, left centerfielder CortneyFielder, right center Devine Porter and right fielder JaRonda Mooreand extra hitter Chiquita Rancifer.

Bogue Chitto, coached by Adriane Allbritton andKathy Fairchild, won the Division 7-1A title, going undefeated witha 10-0 record.

Bogue Chitto hosts Mize Tuesday night. The first game of theseries begins at 5 p.m.

On the season, the 22-2 Lady Bobcats’ only losses were to NorthPike and to West Lincoln. Bogue Chitto faced West Lincoln in asecond tourney game and won it.

The Lady Bobcats have won all three tournaments they playedin.

“Self-motivation,” said Coach Allbritton about a key to her LadyBobcats success. “They stick together. They don’t bicker.”

Albritton. complimented two key defensive standouts in JessicaMelton, shortstop and Randi Moak, left-centerfield. on defense.”Jessica Melton and Randi Moak have wonderful arms on defense. “Wehave played solid defense the whole year through. They respectother teams.”

Kia Porter stepped up as starting pitcher for the first timethis season.

“She has a real quick glove,” complimented Allbritton. “Shemakes the plays. She does an excellent job.” Junior varsity playerWendy Fairchild and Amber Maldonado are the relief pitchers.

The starting lineup for Tuesday night will feature the usualBogue Chitto starters. They are pitcher Kia Porter, catcher MarleyPorter, first baseman Karen Wallace, second baseman Meleah Brown,short stop Jessica Melton, third baseman Marquita Ratcliff, leftfielder Amber Maldonado, left center Randi Moak, right center TracyWallace and right fielder Amanda Wallace.

Seniors playing for Bogue Chitto are Tracy Wallace andRatcliff.

The leading hitters are Moak and Ratcliff.

Allbritton had some thoughts on playing Mize. “We have to puttogether a solid defense and continued hitting like we have been.Our main key will be to get our minds ready and get a goodattitude.”

Wesson captured the 6-2A following a 17-0 winover Madison St. Joseph. The Lady Cobras finished with a 7-1division record and ended regular season play 12-12. St. Andrew’sis the runner up to Wesson in 6-2A.

The head coach for the Lady Cobras is Lane H. Young and hisassistant coach is Heather Laird.

“Our kids have worked hard and look forward to playing Tuesday,”said Young. “We have to minimize our errors on defense andoffensively put the ball in play. We have to play withinourselves.”

Senior Lady Cobras playing on this year’s team are CaronBrister, Kail Baldwin and Maggie Johnson.

Starters for the Lady Cobras in the the first game are pitcherBrittany King, catcher Andrea Watson, firstbaseman Anna Johnson,second baseman Brittany Smith, short stop Millie Smith, thirdbaseman Maggie Morgan, left fielder Kail Baldwin, left centerMaggie Johnson, right center Caron Brister, right fielder LaurenHutson, and extra hitter Hayley Carr.

Key substituted for Wesson are Kate Scoggin, Amanda Jackson andSummer Easterling.

According to Young, Enterprise (Clarke) has a good, solid team.They make routine plays on defense and they hit the ball down onoffense. They are well-coached and they play hard.

The top hitter for the Lady Cobras is Carr with a .507 battingaverage. King bats a .463 followed by Smith with a .446, MaggieJohnson with a .443 and Brister with a .429. The team average is.434.

“The kids are excited and we are looking for a large crowd toturnout to support the girls,” added Young.