After being crushed by Laurel 17-3 Monday afternoon, theBrookhaven Panthers knew that their season would come down to asingle game at Moyer Field.

The Panthers gained the early 3-0 lead and withstood a furiousTornado rally to claim the Brookhaven Regional championship with an8-3 win in the opening round of the South State 4A playoffs. The 3wins by Ole Brook this weekend were the first postseason wins underthe tenure of head coach Randy Spring.

Ole Brook advances to South State semifinals Friday at MoyerField, hosting Northeast Lauderdale in a best-of-three series.

Game 2 of the series will be played Saturday, at NE Lauderdalein Meridian. Game 3, if necessary, would be at BrookhavenMonday.

The Trojans met D’Iberville in the NE Lauderdale Regionalchampionship, losing 5-4 to the Warriors; but claiming the regionaltitle with a 7-0 shutout.

“I am so proud of these kids for hanging in there,” said Spring.”Very glad to get our first playoff wins.”

Ole Brook (24-6) was the designated visitor for the thirdconsecutive game. It did not seem to matter where the Panthers wereon the scoreboard, as long as the victories continued. The Panthersrebounded from the early 14-run loss to the Tornadoes in finefashion.

In the top of the third, Spring’s ballclub took a 1-0 lead.Catcher Adam Ogden singled. Several batters later, an error by theTornadoes allowed Ogden to score. Ogden singled, doubled and scoredtwice on the night.

The Panthers struck quickly in the fifth. Darius Perkinsdoubled. Centerfielder Xavier Qualls doubled to score Perkins.Shortstop Brooks Hall singled to score Qualls. Qualls had a pair ofdoubles and 3 RBI in the game.

Laurel (19-9), coached by James “Luke” Leggett, tied the game at3-3 in their half of the fifth. Chase Perry singled. Brandon Wyrickdrew a base on balls. Ryan Caldwell reached on a fielding error bythe Panthers that allowed Perry to score. Ben Smith singled,reached second on an error that would allow Wyrick to score. BrittKing’s sacrifice fly to centerfield scored Caldwell.

Ole Brook, behind the pitching of senior Scotty Smith, shut outthe Tornadoes over the final 2 innings. Smith threw a completegame, allowing 3 runs (2 earned) on 7 hits, with 3 walks and 8strikeouts on just 2 days rest.

“Scotty, once again, gave us another gutsy performance on themound,” added Spring.

Mistakes proved to be the turning point in the game forLaurel.

“We made some fielding errors that allowed some runs to score,”said Leggett. “Give Brookhaven credit. They have a good ball club.They hit the ball extremely hard tonight.”

The Panthers got a 3-run sixth, and a pair of scores in theseventh. In the bottom of the inning, Smith got losing pitcherDemond Morrow out on a called third strike to ignite boisterouscheers from the Panther fans in attendance.

Morrow suffered the loss in relief of starter Ben Smith and P.J. Harvey. He allowed 5 earned runs on 5 hits, with a walk and astrikeout.

Ben Smith led the Tornado offense with 3 singles. Caldwellsingled twice.