The Lawrence County Lady Cougars captured the 2003 Division 6-4Aslowpitch softball championship Tuesday night with acome-from-behind 12-6 win over the Brookhaven Lady Panthers at theHansel King Sportsplex.

The Lady Cougars trailed by 2-0 and 4-2 margins before authoringa 10-run, 9-hit sixth inning. Back-to-back triples by HeatherSanders and Stacy Smith ignited the Lawrence County charge.

“They (Lawrence County) had one good inning,” said Brookhavenhead coach Lisa Covington.

In a change of rules by the Mississippi High School ActivitiesAssociation, the top four teams in each division will make theplayoffs this year. Brookhaven will finish second in the divisionfollowed by Terry and McComb.

Brookhaven travels to McComb Thursday while Lawrence Countyhosts Terry. The starting times for both games begin at 6 p.m.,with the JV game followed by the varsity contest at 7.

Lawrence County 12, Brookhaven 6

Despite the combined 6 errors by both teams, outstanding defensewas exhibited throughout the 7-inning affair.

Brookhaven (15-5, 6-2) would open the scoring in the firstinning, taking a 2-0 lead. Chuvaquah Smith walked. Brittany Smithreached on an error. Ashley Sykes singled to score Chuvaquah Smith.Two batters later, Kirstein Johnson’s single scored BrittanySmith.

Lawrence County (17-3, 7-0) tied the game at 2-2 in the secondinning. Heather Sanders tripled. Stacy Smith tripled to scoreSanders. Two batters later, Ryane Garrett reached on a fielder’schoice that scored Stacy Smith.

The Lady Panthers took a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning. Asacrifice fly by Kayla Prince scored Allyson Wallace after hersingle. In the fifth, Brookhaven’s cushion increased to 4-2.Chuvaquah Smith singled. Three batters later, Jaronda Moore’ssingle scored Smith.

The Lady Cougars, coached by Tarvey and Suzie Ward, saw theirballclub’s bats come to life in the top of the sixth. LawrenceCougars sent 14 batters to the plate. Sanders and Stacy Smith hadconsecutive triples to highlight the inning.

“We hit the ball well tonight,” said Lady Cougar head coachTarvey Ward. “We wanted to win this one.”

Covington’s ballclub added a run in the sixth on a solo homerunby Portia Dickey. Sykes also homered in the seventh.

Brittany Smith suffered the loss for Brookhaven. Moore singledtwice. Sykes homered and singled. Chuvaquah Smith scored twice forthe Lady Panthers.

Stacy Smith picked up the win for Lawrence County. Smith alsohad a pair of triples and scored 2 runs. Sanders tripled twice andscored 2 runs. Emily Smith had 3 singles.

In the JV game, Brookhaven got run support fromChristi Martin, Danielle Boyd and Amanda McIntyre. Collectingsingles for the Lady Panthers were Boyd, Terri Hodges (2) and LauraWaldrop. Kelly Vinson took the loss for Brookhaven.

For Lawrence County, pitcher Krystal Carr garnered the win.Sonni Smith hit a pair of homeruns. Ellie Fairburn had a single, adouble and a homerun.